Life Lately

5/14 WOD Helen

400 m run

21 KB (1 pood)

12 pull up

3 rounds- 8:02

5/15- Dances with Dirt Relay Race

Before the Race Started:

After:

5/17- Tommy V

85 pound Thruster, 21 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 12 ascents
85 pound Thruster, 15 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 9 ascents
85 pound Thruster, 9 reps
15 ft Rope Climb, 6 ascents

22:15

5/18

10x250m Row (averaged 59 sec)

5/19

75 power snatch- 75#- 7:59

5/20

400 m run

50 squats

3 rounds-6:53

5/21

21-15-9

Deadlift 175#

Wallball-20#

Double unders (did 5:1 ratio for singles)

Mission Muscle Up

A Muscle-Up: the Holy Grail of all things CrossFit.  I finally achieved non-spasmatic status with my kipping pull ups, so it’s time for Mission Muscle-Up.  I’ll be working on my pull-ups and dips to make sure I have the strength, and jumping on the rings until I get one of these bad boys completed. 

My mission, should I choose to accep it, is to complete my first muscle up and then victoriously scream like a girl afterwards by the time academy is over.

R.I.P. Cone Family

Being vertically challenged can have it’s downsides- namely being confused for a middle school student by a hall monitor during my recent visit to Mr. Smackhouse’s school.  (You think a sixth grader could pack these guns to school? That’s a Class D felony baby!)

Another disadvantage for my 5′ 2″ figure can sometimes be driving without sitting on a telephone book.  This week in academy, first platoon had the pleasure of getting paid to drive fast and smart at Emergency Vehicle Operations training.  For every cone we hit on the course, we paid the penalty in push-ups.  My height deficiency contributed to a few snags I had in a backing weave drill–resulting in quite a few push ups throughout the week and many unexpected deaths in the cone family:

Despite the Cone family tragedy, EVO week was really enjoyable and with that phase completed the 7th IMPD Recruit Class is almost halfway through academy.

Badass of the Week #2

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I would like to honor The Fresh Meat Beat’s second featured badass: Mama Smackhouse.  My mother is probably the most energetic person you will ever meet.  She has a fetish for M&Ms, Snoopy, brightly colored objects (if it’s polka dotted + multi-colored= even better!) and a deal of any kind.  She’s smart, kind, and probably ADHD with a hint of OCD. 

I’m sure most of us take after our parents more than we care to admit- but in my case it’s probably not too bad of a thing to inherit the Mama Smackhouse traits. For every comment I get about being tough, having a lot of heart or spunk, or being suspiciously energetic- I thank my mother.  She taught me well and gave me good genes.  She is a badass- and a very brightly colored one at that.  Happy Mother’s Day tough lady.

Until we meet again

After a week of EVO (Emergency Vehicle Operations) training, I’m almost half way through academy.  More on my craptastic driving later, but I passed- so Mayor Power Ballard, Officer Smackhouse will see you again on August 12th for the 7th IMPD Recruit Class graduation.  

Tired Robot

The best of us get tired- even robots.  Other than the moniker ‘squirrel monkey’, every so often at academy I’m called “Robot”- perhaps because I’ve traveled back in time to warn my fellow classmates of their imminent destruction, or more likely a reference to my energy- which seems to have no limits.  Oh, but it does.  

This week Robot Smackhouse was tired.  The combination of academy, CrossFit, trying to be a good friend and wife, and roller derby practices had me beat with not altogether perfect timing- as Wednesday was a preliminary physical fitness test at academy. I improved my initial scores, but felt tired the entire day:

 Scores: February/April

Situps (1 minute): 50/55

Pushups (no time limit): 61/75

300 m run: 54 sec/52

1.5 mile run: 10:40/10:14

Pullups (dead-hang): 8/8

Flexibility: 21/23.75”

Vertical Jump: 15in/19.5”

 I’m questioning my ability to “do it all”, and wondering if the skates might need to collect dust for a little while.  The feisty/determined Sookie wants to do everything, but practical Sookie thinks being healthy needs to incorporate balance. Physically, I think I could handle “doing it all”, but I want to do it with my typical spunk- and the spunk was funk this week. 

I wish I was a robot.  Robo Sookie would have dinner fixed by now, and I’d be in the company of the great robots who have come before me:

Kipping pull ups to Smackhouse, “We love you too!”

After my public love fest over kipping pull ups in my last post, here’s how they returned the favor (as CrossFit will usually do):

 

 

Smackhouse to Kipping Pull Ups- “You complete me.”

I’m hesitant to post this, but here it goes: On Friday, April 30th, 2010, I Sookie Smackhouse declare public victory over kipping pull ups.

I’ve been struggling with kipping pull ups for the 9 months of my CrossFitting experience.  I had the strength for dead hangs, but any time I attempted the kip I was told I looked spasmastic. I haven’t been complimented like that since the last time I danced publicly.

Over the last month, I finally got a pull up bar at home, and the CrossFit instructors at the academy have been extremely helpful.  Last week I completed a WOD with pull ups and realized afterwards I kipped all of them (and no one asked if I was having an epileptic attack).  I wasn’t sure if it was a fluke.  I used to dislike the people who mastered kipping pull ups with little instruction and who would then comment, “I just got it.”

I didn’t think I would just “get” kipping pull ups one day.  In fact, a world without my struggle with kipping pull ups might even be boring.  I’d stare at the pull up bar and the Batman geek in me would think, ”I think you and I are destined to do this forever.” 

But today is victory day. It wasn’t a fluke. My kipping pull ups aren’t nearly perfect, but I “got” it. Today is the day I looked at the pull up bar and said, “Kill you? I don’t want to kill you. You complete me.”

Friday WOD

Pullups- 1 the first minute

2 the 2nd minute

Keep going until you can’t do no mo

16 rounds

Americans, Canadians, and Roller Derbians- I thank you

Have you seen the movie Julie and Julia? It depicts one woman’s quest to bake the entirety of Julia Child’s (depicted by Meryl Streep) 524 recipes in ”Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in one year and blog about her experience.  At one point in the movie, before Julie’s blog becomes nationally known, she gets excited that a reader leaves a comment on her blog (although the reader turns out to be her mother- which Julie laments, “Doesn’t really count”).

 The Fresh Meat Beat doesn’t garner many comments, but every now and then I receive a personal message relating to something I wrote.  Several strangers have told me about their own journeys with eating disorders, CrossFit, paleo, or passed along boot shining techniques. (Another reader from Canada, a self-confessed former bulimic, challenged me to a duel after reading this post . Bring it sister! Not only is your former ED inferior to mine, but you’re also Canadian!)

Friends, readers, Canadians- I just want to say thank you: it’s inspiring and usually surprising to me that other people read this blog and react to it other than my mother (thank you Mama Smackhouse for your readership).

Sadly, there are no plans in the works for Meryl Streep to depict me in a feature-length film– yet. Do you think she could pull off the fishnets for the roller derby scenes?

All I really need to know I learned in Roller Derby

Last weekend was the Naptown Roller Girl’s final home bout of the season, and our special guest was Indy’s Mayor Greg Ballard, who we dubbed “Power Ballard”.  I shook his hand at the 7th IMPD Recruit Class academy swearing in, but this time I met him as Sookie Smackhouse.  You can read about Power Ballard’s roller derby debut in the Indy Star.

I now have a season of roller derby under my skates, and in at least one aspect of my life I’m not quite so fresh meat. After spending over 500 hours of the last year on wheels, I would hope I’ve learned a few things.  In no particular order, Sookie’s list of “All I really need to know I learned in Roller Derby”:

1. Don’t be intimidated- Dive in.  I’m not a very fearful person, but when I first started derby I had the heeby jeebies every time I stepped on the pivot or jammer line.  Diving in (literally) with my body overcame those feelings pretty quickly. There’s always the risk you’ll get hurt with most things in life, either emotionally or physically, but derby has reminded me to never be intimidated by anything or anyone.  
2. Teamwork- The Naptown Warning Belles remained undefeated this season because we play as a team- as a pack. You can be an amazing individual skater, but you can’t block a damn thing by yourself. Thank you roller derby for teaching me again and again to work with others, and to skate my best because others are relying on me.
3. Keep moving- I never stop moving my feet in derby. When I fall down (and it does happen often), I bounce back up.  To keep moving, you have to be motivated by something. In derby the motivation is usually kicking ass, in life I’m prompted by faith, hope and love. 
4. Have a flexible plan- As a pivot, you call the play for the jam. That plan can pretty quickly go to pot- so you have to be flexible.
5. Play with class- You can kick ass in roller derby and still be classy about it. I’m proud the Naptown Roller Girls is a family affair and that we generally treat our competition with respect. Officer Smackhouse plans on keeping it classy on the streets of Naptown too.

Skadoosh:

Kipping breakthrough

Monday- Helen

400 m run

21 KB

12 pull

3 rounds- 13:16

Tuesday WOD

Clean and Jerk 1x1x1x1x1x1x1

Thursday -Barbara

20 pull ups

30 push ups

40 situps

50 air squats

5 rounds- 3 min rest after each round- 28:02 Rx (and I just might have had a breakthrough in my kipping pull ups, but I’m not ready to declare public victory over the kip just yet)

Friday WOD

Deadlift: 5x5x5x5x5 followed by 3 box jumps

155, 185, 185, 205, 205

Badass of the week

This weekend members of our recruit class had the opportunity to attend IMPD’s 1st annual Women in Leadership conference.  Initially, I wasn’t excited to give up my Friday, but the day proved to be very inspiring and once again confirm how much I love this job.  Among the speakers at the conference were Chief Val Demmings, who is the first female appointed to serve as Chief of Police for Orlando and also Sergeant Jennifer Fulford.  I’m nominating Jen as badass of the week on The Fresh Meat Beat, an honor no less worthy than her National Public Safety Officer Medal of Honor. You can read her story here or this brief synopsis:

On May 5, 2004, Deputy Fulford-Salvano responded to a burglary in progress call after an 8-year-old boy called to inform the police that “strange men” were in his home with weapons and that he and his sister were hiding inside a van in the garage.  Deputy Jennifer Fulford-Salvano, first on the scene, entered the garage to check on the child and his sister who were still hiding in the family van.  As deputies took positions, two men emerged from the house and fired upon them.  Deputy Fulford-Salvano became trapped in the garage between two vehicles and the assailants who were firing on her position.  Deputy Fulford-Salvano then returned fire.  Although she was struck a total of ten times, including in her shooting hand, she was able to retrieve her weapon with her other hand and continue firing until both gunmen went to the ground. The assailants were apprehended and the children were kept safe and unharmed throughout the incident.