imPRESSive

Shoulder press 1-1-1-1-1 reps

Push press 3-3-3-3-3 reps

Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5 reps

Shoulder Press: 35-45PR-50m-50m-45

Push Press: 55-60-65-70mx2

Push Jerk: 60-55-60-60-60

Holy moly, I just realized that I set a new PR for my shoulder press. My former 1RM was 42.5#s. That's pretty cool. Shoulder press will always be something I need to work on slowly but surely. Hopefully the biproduct of me doing my strict pull exercises on the regular will be more power/strength in my presses. 

I've never really done push press for max effort, only in programmed WODs. So this is new for me. So technically 65#s is my baseline. 

As well, I've never done the push jerk for max effort. Of course, 5 rep sets adds a new dimension to the weight so it really wasn't a max effort. Knowing I can C&J 75#s I assumed that that would be where I'd start. Zeb advised to go lower in weight as 5 reps is a lot of work. And boy was he right. 60s fuckin' killed me. my 4th and 5th rep were always the ugliest and were a struggle. I'm very happy with the work I did with the push jerk today. I definitely had good speed getting under the bar, but it was mostly my arms failing towards the end that made me all wobbly.

Ok 'nuff about this boring stuff (ha!) and on to the juicy part of the day:

After class, I was enjoying my post wod SFH recovery shake (in chocolate) sitting on the bench under the white board that has the WOD posted. Next to me is Patrick. We're being lazy and watching the 6:30 class wrap up their WOD, shootin' the breeze. A man with shaved head and full beard, dressed in all black workout gear walks through the door and into the gym. 

Me: I know that guy

Patrick: Uh, ya he looks familiar.

Me: I know I follow him online (Could it be? No...)

Patrick: He definitely is someone big...

Me: Firebreathers....?

2 more people follow him; a lady holding bright red Inno-v8s, and another gentleman in red. 

The man in all black engages in conversation with Diso at the bottom of the stairs...

I look at Patrick and mouth the name "Mikko Salo?" Patrick shrugs. 

"Does he have an accent?" We both listen carefully. Yes, we can hear the distinct Finnish accent. 

My eyes almost pop out of my head when I realize it's him, and my mouth drops. I instantly become this retarded school girl who's hoping the members of her NKOTB poster would magically come to life. 

I look at Martina and Gretchen and they too have reverted to 13 yr girls and having the same dancing eyes that I do.  

The lady happened to Christy Phillips, 6th place finisher for the ladies 2009 Crossft Games. The other gentleman, I believe is Mikko's business partner, whom runs their box in Finland. They chose PCF as the box to do a WOD in prior to jumping a red eye flight back to their respective home towns. The determining factor in choosing us (cause we're definitely not the closest to LAX) was because we HAVE A SHOWER! 

They set up to do hero WOD "Jack." Watching them attack the wod with a definite plan, with deliberate breaks (!!!) to achieve their goal was fascinating. It's a 20 min AMRAP of 10 Push Press(135/115), 10 KB swings (1.5 pood/1pood) 10 box jumps. We all later find out that Christy had a goal of 16 rounds, and Mikko 18 rounds. He figures that he has 66 seconds to do one round if he wants to meet his goal of 18 rounds in 20 mins. Any time left over  of his allotted 66 secs. is "rest." Crossfit math is fuckin' genius. 

The spectators (myself, Patrick, Gretchen, Martina, Joe, Franny, Zeb, Diso... the other guy) were in awe watching them go hard for pretty much the entire 20 mins. At some point, Zeb says, "We can cheer for them right?" Up until that point were were all in quiet amazement, not making a peep. We started to cheer them on, and it felt weird to me. Like I didn't really know them, but who doesn't like to be cheered for? I know I do, I talk extensively about the how cheering affects your mental state during a WOD. Both Christy and Mikko met their goals by the end of the 20 mins. 

After the WOD we all gather around Mikko and start to ask questions about his strategy in the WOD. He shared his Crossfit math and how he uses it to set and accomplish goals. We were all enrapt in listening to him speak. It was crazy. Christy starts to shower. Mikko obliges to take multiple pictures with everyone. It was crazy. Christy comes out and she starts talking about her experience in SoCal, and how she wanted to go out to the club tonight and dance, and Mikko said that he didn't want to be drunk on the plane ride home. Then it comes up that Mikko was getting down to 93.9 KDAY's old school hip-hop, that he was dancing in the car on the way over to the box. We were all laughing and it was super jolly. Did I mention that it was crazy?

We took more group pics, this time with Christy, who is just the sweetest thing. She's only 25 yrs old. And she is a bad ass. Her body is soooo out of control. 

I do want to share that at the Games this year I had a "moment" w/ Mikko. Games were done and all the vendors were breaking down their booths. I was standing by SFH booth, waiting for Zeb, Rico and Matty. It was over 108 degrees that day. I was wearing a fun, flirty dress that was backless. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, I see Mikko walking through the sea of commotion, heading my direction. He looks tired and irritated, his head is down, as if he didn't want to be stopped by a fan. When he was about 10 feet from me, he looks up and we make eye contact; immediately his eyes light up and his mouth curls into this big smile, a genuine smile of mutual attraction. I blushed but held his gaze until he walked past me. The chemistry was palpable. 

I joked with Mel from Valley Crossfit that Mikko is soooo bad ass/the epitome of masculinity that he was able to impregnate me with just his eyes- immaculate conception! Hahaha!

I don't think Mikko would remember our "moment" from July today, but I still think there is a mutual attraction that I felt. When I was talking to his biz partner, and Mikko was engaged with Martina, our eyes "caught" each other several times-- each time making the blood rush to my cheeks:) On my departure, I followed Mikko into the changing room alone and hugged him goodbye. His gaze still felt strong and intense. I asked him when he would be back stateside and insisted that he must come back to visit us @ PCF. He said he didn't know, but promised he would come back to our box. He was still all wet and sweaty, but I didn't mind and reveled in his big-hot-wet hug. 

Ahhhhhh.... he's so dreamy. My Finnish crush. Lol. 

Back to reality Lauren.