I'm doing a deadlifting program based on one of Pavel's simple progressions in Power to the People. This program was recommended to me by RKC/Facebook friend Cara Egeland. There are so many programs that it's hard to just pick one and stick to it. Especially in a CF setting where we are hooked on variety. So, I do some warm-up sets and then my heaviest set of 5 deadlifts goes up by 5 pounds per workout. One heavy five is followed by five at 10 percent lighter. Today the two work sets were at 193 and 173. (Odd numbers are necessary because I'm mixing pounds and kilos in bumper plates and fractional plates.)

My deadlift goal is 265 lbs (120 kg), which is slightly more than twice my weight. My former 1-rep max several months ago was 254 (115 kg, which was twice my weight on that particular day!).

After the deadlifts, I did today's CrossFit 206 workout: 8 KB snatch/side, 8 hspu's (for me, negatives most of the time, or a few 8-sec holds instead), 8 goblet squats, 8 rounds for time, with a 16kg kettlebell. My time: 14: 48.

On Monday and Wednesday I did some barbell pressing. Wednesday I had a 1RM of 83 pounds. I was very happy with this. I had some nagging shoulder problems this year, mostly an impingement on the left side. A couple of years ago my 1RM press was 92 so now I feel I'm on my way back to that.

During the workout, I felt like I was on an adventure race! It was all so new. Focus on one move at a time and the goal of finishing gets closer and closer. Some of the exercises were easy for me, like the 3-second handstand against the wall. Others loomed like a 15-foot wall each time they came around in the cycle. It was the first time I'd tried ring dips. My modification was to jump to support. What a sense of accomplishment in being able to do it! Each time, of course, I was shakier.

I know the phrase "beginner's mind" and don't know exactly what is meant by it in its spiritual context, but I often think of that phrase when I'm nervous about a workout that I know is going to be hard. These days, as a trainer, I want to provide a good example and set a somewhat ambitious standard for other women. Those are good intentions, but it's a source of pressure I'm putting on myself. Healthy in some ways, yet what is fun is when I can recover that sort of innocence when approaching a workout: "I don't know how this is going to go, but I'm gonna do one thing at a time until I get through it!" I need to hang onto a balance of those two feelings forever. Setting a good example seems valuable, but enjoying the process is the fun part.

The 12 Days workout is good for enjoying the process because of its length. Even being used to hard workouts, this one still feels like an adventure race. And I love the ritual of doing it every year.

Last year I accidentally did twice as much bear-crawl as I was supposed to. This year (today) I'm going to get a more representative time result.

Very late update: My time for 12 Days was 41:20.

Then we did a WOD involving alternating with a partner for 30 seconds of jumprope alt. with squats, push-ups, push-presses, box jumps, pull-ups, burpees, maybe something else I can't remember. So you would jump rope, do one of the other things, then both people would rest for 30 seconds. Partner workouts are always fun. This was a week of hard workouts so this one was a nice light one.

Afterward I worked on pistols and ended up doing four or more (?) with a 24-kg kettlebell held in the rack position. These are so intense and really make my legs and rear tired for days. Unfortunately I completely forgot to remove my Nike Free's, so I guess I would not get full kettlebell cred for these pistols.

I went to a training session with RKC team leader Franz Snideman after the workshop was over and I was on vacation. He coached me on the technique points I need. I designed some workouts for myself based on these, and on the lifts required in the Level 2 RKC, which I'd like to do in 2011.

I was pleased with myself because I kept my eating very close to Paleo style and close to 100 percent whole foods high in protein and fat during the three-day event, even though the days were so long and we had little choice where to eat. I could have saved money but I chose to eat the way I knew would be best instead of cheapest. I continued that for the most part during the vacation and came home down slightly in body weight.

Today's workout: warm up with the usual mobility plus 10 x 10 push-ups and squats. Practiced a method of teaching pistols by starting from the bottom up per Franz (see video below). Then I did the reverse ladder goblet squat/swings workout that team leader Joana Snideman led during the RKC, which I did not have to do as a staffer, but wanted to: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of goblet squat at 16 kg alt. with swings, same weight. For sets 3-2-1 I switched to 24 kg. The 16 kg had felt heavy on my upper back to hold the "goblet" in front of me in the bottom of the squat, but not at all heavy as a squat lift. Then I stretched my shoulders and quads for about 15 minutes.

I followed this by practicing kettlebell pistols with the 24 kg. I did a few on each leg, but they are inconsistent. I'll practice these a lot the next two weeks in case they come in handy at the RKC that starts August 27. I can't wait to go to San Diego!

So earlier this week the materials arrived for this upcoming course I'm assisting at. What's this? The snatch test is now 100 reps for everyone, in five minutes, regardless of body weight. And at my weight, 16 kg is the weight I will use. Indeed the old new test must have been tried out and found to be too easy! I went out in the back yard yesterday to take this new new test, snatching the 16 kg 100 times. I succeeded with 20 seconds to spare. Now that's a hard test! I think it's great!

I wish I had looked at the website earlier to find out the test was changed, and I would have started practicing this sooner. The next two weeks I'm going to do the snatch test on Mondays and Fridays, and do pressing and maybe sprinting on Wednesdays and maybe Saturdays. The snatch test was challenging weight-wise and also winded and tired me like repeated sprints.

Deadlift your body weight, or thereabouts, for as many nonstop reps as possible. (Less experienced lifters would not go that heavy; it takes several tries and a lot of deadlifting sessions to know what is a good challenge for this workout.) I used 70 kg and got 22 reps. I didn't go to failure but only to shaky legs. I've seen shaky legs lead to failure too quickly for people because it is so hard not to let go of the bar and stand... just for a second... whoops, the set is over. I need to try to do that to literal failure. But can failure be defined as a bad back position, even if the lift succeeds? Should a trainer stop a trainee's set if the back rounds and the lift is completed? In my opinion, yes, and that's how I'd define it for myself. If the next rep leads to injury, it wasn't worth continuing.

Next we divided into teams of four and each person did 150 wallball. We took turns doing 30. I used the blue ball. Our team was not fast compared to others throughout the day that were on the board - we took 22:12. Love it! I broke up only my last two sets and only for a breath here and there, not for long.

Friday, August 7: "Elizabeth" (21-15-9 full cleans and ring dips) I used 30 kg (Rx is 40) and used dip bars; no jumps on the dips. My time was 8:44.

Run 200 meters (to the corner and back), then immediately do 10 kettlebell swings.

The run starts every two minutes. Finish the whole thing in about 1:30 for almost-adequate rest before next round starts; if you get less than 25 seconds rest, shorten the run.

15 rounds (so the workout took 30 minutes).

This was grueling! I used a 20 kg kettlebell. At round 9 or 10 I thought I was going to have to shorten the run to avoid nausea. But I laid on the floor for 20 seconds before the next round and stuck with the whole run for the rest of the workout without much problem (other than severe discomfort, of course!).

My run strategy, starting around round 5: sprint almost all-out to the fire hydrant - about 40-50 meters - then slow down for the rest of the run. I figured that would save me a few seconds while I was relatively fresh each round. It did that, but it also caused me to surprise people by tearing out ahead of them at full speed, so a few of us ended up loosely competing to keep up with each other. When Alex and Jason got out ahead of me, I was happy to trail them closely rather than trying to pass, but did NOT want to let them get back to the kettlebells more than a couple of steps ahead of me. I think the feeling was mutual when I ran out ahead of them. I liked this pressure cooker, which was caused by everybody starting the run together every time.

As usual with "a lot" of "fast" running (quotes used ironically since I'm not a great runner), I ended up with a little soreness and swelling laterally inside my right knee. This evening it will  be 48 hours and it's getting better. I think our running totalled about 1.8 miles, 200 fast meters at a time. Ouch!