Spring in Beacon Hill Park

I had a rest day from the gym today so decided to take a stroll through Beacon Hill Park with my camera.  

Squirrels are definitely not the most cooperative photographic subjects but this little guy was so intent on his lunch that he stayed in one spot for quite a while and actually let me get reasonably close! I even got a little bit of decent video although, being hand held, it's a little shaky. 

I have always loved the colourful feathers of the male peacocks.

There were SO many wildflowers out. The daffodils in particular carpet many areas of the park. 

The relationship to the land defines our identities as Lkwungen people. The language is the foundation of the teaching of the ancestors and this foundation is attached to the land. The land and the environment that allows the people to live, harvest, hunt and fish, are all "Sacred sites." The land, creeks, rivers seashore and ocean are all living breathing entities. The land that you walk on today is the traditional territories of the Swengwhung, one of the seven family groups which inhabit this part of Southern Vancouver Island. 
Burial site and Cairns are places to connect people of Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, with the ancestors. Recognition and acknowledgement is vital to our beliefs and the ancestor's teachings. 

The manicured flower gardens were also very lovely but there were more people around that area so I didn't hang out for long. Too cold today to see any turtles in the ponds so I'll have to go again when it's warmer. It was a really lovely day! 

Crossfit 2023 Age Group Online Quarterfinals

The 2023 age group online quarterfinals were held March 31 - April 2. This was my first time taking part in them after placing in the top 10% in my age division during the Crossfit Open. 

I've had so much fun this year! Once the leaderboard shakes out* I think I will end up in about 102^nd place out of 163 women in my age category. Interestingly, this is the exact same placement as for the Open (102nd out of more than 2100).    EDIT: Leaderboard finalized on April 14 and I placed 98th. Nice to sneak into the top 100. 

I placed in the top 100 in three out of the five scored tests which I am very happy with. Without going into full details of the workouts, here’s some of the good, the very good, and the expected. I’m not disappointed with any of it!

 

Workout 1 – I’ve been working hard the past few months on trying to get chest to bar pullups. It’s been super frustrating because they’re so hit and miss, even doing singles, let alone stringing a few together. But they came through when it counted, and I got past the 30 chest to bar pullups programmed in this workout! Yay! The bar muscle ups shut me down, as they did for many others. There were also toes to bar and dumbbell walking lunges (hang position, front rack, overhead). I had some execution errors which cost me some time but it’s a lesson learned for next year. 

Workout 1

Workout 2A and 2B – I was completely mentally prepared for there to be at least one workout where the very first movement was one I couldn’t do or at a weight I couldn’t lift. And, sure enough, the first movement of Part A of this workout was strict handstand push-ups. I did not make these a priority at all this year due to so many other things to work on so my score on this was 0 reps. This saved me for Part B of the workout which was a 1 rep max clean. I had PRd this lift a couple weeks ago so I knew right where my range was and managed to PR again by 1# (with several attempts at higher weights). 

Workout 2

Workout 3 – This one sounded ugly with a TON of shuttle runs at the beginning and end but, I love running so that wasn’t too big of a deal. The middle part was rope climbs and a lot of bench press. Both of which I knew I’d have to take my time on to avoid going to muscle or grip failure. It went well and I ended up just 5 shuttle runs short of finishing the workout in the 30-minute time cap. 

Workout 3

Workout 4 – This was a repeat of an open work out from 2015. Calories on the rower and thrusters in a 27-21-15-9 rep scheme. It’s a tough workout but I was excited for it because Brandon had tested me on this one back in January during Open prep so I knew my split times and what reps I could hold on the thrusters. I managed to beat my previous time by about 50 seconds and ended up in 40^th overall on that workout . . . my best place finish ever! 

Workout 4

Here's a fun little youtube video re-cap of my workouts. 

You know the saying, “It takes a village . . .”? Well, it really and truly does. Many, many thanks to my personal coach, Brandon Bufton; my class coaches at Taranis, Steve Howell and Morgan Rozon; also Morgan for nutrition coaching; physio and massage therapists Katie Schmidt and Nicole McKay Grant; and all who helped out with quarterfinal logistics etc. and cheered me on -- Brooke Woodley, Jackie Snell, Meg Perdew, Vanessa Sullivan and Richard Willcox (who also did the age group workouts with me.) And, of course, my husband Andrew for both encouraging me and putting up with me! 

I cannot wait to keep working hard and seeing what next year brings!  :-) 

 

*The leaderboard is not finalized until next week once videos submissions are reviewed, etc. In addition, I had problems submitting my 2A and 2B scores but, because I advised CF HQ before the submission deadline, they have indicated they will enter them for me. This has not been done yet. (As of April 3, 2023)