Righteously Exhausted

I was not able to convince anyone to join me at Crossfit this morning (weenies!) so there was no family on hand to witness my very first encounter with push presses.

The setup.

WOD:

Kettlebell Hoist (35lbs ) (couldn't find a video for this, but it's basically clipping a kettlebell to a rope-and-pully, hoisting it up to the ceiling, and then lowering it back down)
Airdyne (calories)
Back Extensions
Jumping Squats
Push Press (45lbs)

3 rounds
1 Minute per station, 1 minute rest between rounds.
Score is total reps

Hoisted!  Petards!

 First of all, my score was 196, a score which I was pretty proud of, all things considered.  But here's what I was not so proud of; I was not so proud of the fact that my ego did not stay at the door where I'd checked it.

See, the guy who was moving through the stations with me (there were five stations and nine of us, so most of us had a "partner" at each station) was not much bigger than I am, and I was feeling pleased as punch (and pretty buff) to be keeping up with him at the kettlebell hoist (leaving aside the fact that he was using 50 lbs to my 35), but when it came to the push press station he got off a minimum of 25 each round (at 75 lbs) like it was nothing, whereas I struggled mightily to get nine in my best round.  I felt weak and pathetic and sulky, and I didn't like it at all.

(So bad, I mean.)

But then I snapped myself the hell out of it by reminding myself that push presses, just like anything else (::coughcoughpullupscough::) take practice.  So the solution to me feeling weak and pathetic (and sulky) when I do push presses is to... do more of them.

I had to roll around on the ground a bit to recover (fortunately there was a sweet bulldog there to give me support and kisses) but once I did I pedaled home and enjoyed the bacon my brother-in-law had waiting for me (good man!), then got cleaned up as quickly as I could because we had to dash in order to make it to OMSI in time to catch the IMAX show my in-laws wanted to watch.  So they went to that while Nathan and I toddled around with Grasshopper.  And let me tell you, Gentle Readers, if we ever spawn I will totally spring for a membership to OMSI because of all the Seriously Awesome Distractions there are for kidlets.  It was great fun.  And possibly there are some pictures of me exposing my nephew to electrical currents for the fun of making our hair stand up... (I will post the ones of my hip-length hair floating around my head as soon as I get a copy).

After OMSI we headed over to the Zoo, which remains awesome as always.  (Seriously you guys- if you've never been to the Oregon Zoo and you get the chance, take it: it's one of my all-time favorites)  Certain members of the party had the advantage of being pushed in a stroller while napping, so although the adults were dragging by the end of the day, Grasshopper was feeling mighty fine (not to mention pleased with the amused attention he'd garnered by making Tiger Noises).