Didn’t Die and Didn’t Quit

Whew, this has been a week of managing kids back to school, work being chaotic and my workout schedule shifting back the early early mornings. And I survived.

I survived waking up at 4:15 am. I survived CrossFit. I survived getting 3 boys to 3 different schools for 3 different times. And I even managed to get to work on time if not early! I survived last minute school supply shopping, baseball practices and a football game. I SURVIVED! Granted this is small scale in most peoples lives but for me it might as well have been Mt. Everest. Look, before you start calling me crazy, this is just a blog about my fitness journey and a little peek into the rest of the crazy my life is. And it’s nothing but a speck of sand in the universe. I know there are people out there saving the world and there are people out there surviving more than I can even imagine… and yadda yadda yadda, so forgive me in advance for taking something so trivial and making it like I deserve a medal of honor! But I did survive! Hehe. And sadly, I don’t deserve a medal of honor. Just being dramatic for the sake of blogging.

But for real, in regards to the drama and my life that is CrossFit … this morning was something I was not mentally prepared for at all!

8/30/13 WOD
Strength: Front Squats 5@65% 4@75% 4@80% 4@85%
I’m pretty sure the bar is heavier at 5 a.m. It’s still sleepy and dragging ass too, right? But even when I’m half ass asleep again from not getting enough sleep, I still managed through the weight fine.

THEN

Bear Complex (7 times around=1 round) 1-1-1-1 rest over 3 minutes between rounds

The Bear Complex has crossed my path several times but not in a long while. It’s also been varied each time. This time around we were doing one set. Resting. Upping the weight and go again. Times 4.

Someone like me forgets the torture that this turns out to be. In my head, it’s clearly not so tough. Just a few lifts and I’m good. Ha, just a FEW x 7 x 4. I started out at 55lbs and was ready to die once I finished my 1 REP of Squat Clean, Thruster, to Back Squat, to Thruster, seven times. Did I mention that 7 times through was 1 rep? Ok enough I know. So I moved up to 65lbs for my 2nd attempt. I had to rest a little more with the bar on my back but if that was going to get me through I was going to take it! If you drop or let go of the bar, that’s a NO REP. I survived the 2nd attempt. Time was pacing along quickly. Rest time was going even faster! I decided I’d jump to 85lbs for my 3rd attempt. And it was a doozy, but I was getting through it. I was on my 7th round, resting with the bar on my back. COACH T was encouraging me to go, get the bar up. I was just trying to will myself to finish. And I push pressed it up without doing the BACK SQUAT!!!! DOH! WTH. I dropped the bar not realizing my mistake. I just fell on the ground and said I QUIT! I have no more in me. I’m done. Sigh.

8/30/13 WOD

But she’s not really done ladies and gents. She has one more attempt. UGH, And I DID NOT WANT TO GO. The little part of me that didn’t want to quit, said move up in weight. You were 90% there! But the tired, limb shaking, heavy breathing part of me said NO just do the 85lbs again. At the 3rd round I was ready to drop the bar. Just be done. FAIL. Go HOME. But I kept going. Resting before the Back Squat and Resting before the Front Squat. A LOT of resting. After the 5th round, I found some peace of mind that I was almost done. I just needed to control my breathing and go. OHHHH but it was so hard to want to go. To will myself to go. Once the 6th round was done, I was almost home free. Just FINISH! I didn’t forget my back squat and finished at 85lbs. It literally took me 10 minutes to recover. I was a shaky mess. The BEAR did not win today! I didn’t DIE and I didn’t QUIT!

I told Coach G if i wasn’t completely crippled in the morning I would come to the COMMUNITY WOD. We’ll see. By the way you are all invited to join. TOMORROW at 9 a.m.!

That’s it for this week in my little world. Hope you have all have a safe and fun holiday weekend! And as you know… make it awesome!!!

Bread does a Body Bad

It’s true even though I love the bread along with the rest of America. I always have been a bread and pastry junky. When I first went Paleo and was 100% committed I cut it all out. I lost weight, felt great and was doing just fine but those little mental temptations would get me and I’d struggle to get back on track. Needless to say if you know what’s going on with me you KNOW I’m not eating all the awesomely the past few months. I still manage to get good breakfasts and good lunches. It’s the dinners and weekends that sometimes are off … and sometimes WAY OFF.

Yesterday was one of those OFF days and this morning I could feel it in every joint. My wrists, my ankles, my shoulders. Those were the worst. I can honestly say when I go off the rails it physically pains me. And my brain is foggier than normal.

I’m not trying to sell you a book or make you dive into CrossFit. I’m telling you from real day to day experience that BREAD, WHEAT, GRAINS = HURT. Processed food generally = HURT and when I eat enough of it, I just deal with it and unfortunately you allow yourself to get used to feeling like crap. And I never realized they hurt me until I cut everything out and did a reboot. Clearly, the reboot was not a PERMANENT in my situation but I have had many phases of eating clean and cutting out the junk. And it never fails that the BREAD gets me. I’m not so bad with the dairy. I’m not so bad with some grains like RICE. It is clear without a doubt that anything with wheat will get me. It sucks. Sure I can splurge and love every bite, but I pay for it. Yes life is short and we all should enjoy it. But shouldn’t we also enjoy it pain free? I think so. Life can be enjoyable without BREADS. I promise it can. I just have to keep reminding myself that it’s true!

But enough of my BREAD is BAD for you. I know you just want to know my success and failures at the BOOM Box! Right?!? Hahah!

Community WOD 8/24/13
Ya, I’ve been hesitant lately because so many of the Community get togethers involve running! And teams! I don’t mind teams at all. But I do mind running and being on a team. I’m sure to let EVERYONE down. And it doesn’t motivate me to push harder in the running dept. The team just loses ground due to my loserness. But this past Saturday there was Deadlifts and Yoke Pushes. There was a little bit of UH OH in me because we had 30 minutes to get As HEAVY as POSSIBLE. Well I wasn’t mentally prepared to go HEAVY. Coach is talking 1RM PRs. I’m thinking 185lbs for 5 reps felt super heavy not too long ago. So we had 30 minutes to work. As long as we were doing more than 1 rep, we could continue moving up in weight. But once we got to singles we had to AS A TEAM push the YOKE a long ass way. I’m sure it was less than 100 yds but it was still far and we sprinted that thing across. I was smoked. But we still had more time to do Deadlifts. Due to some mental fatigue, I accidentally pulled 235lbs off the ground “thinking” I was only pulling 225lbs, which is my current 1RM. Well HOT DAMN, new PR! And I still had more in me, I think, after the YOKE, ugh I hope so. Guess what? I had another 10 lb PR. 245lbs! I did try at 250 but I was out of it mentally for sure by then. 250lbs could have been only 200 and I still probably wouldn’t have been able to pull it. I’m happy with a 20lb PR though! Woooo!

8/26/13 WOD
Strength: Back squats 5@60% 3@70% 2@80% 2@90% 1@95%
No I didn’t make it to the 5am class. Boooo! First day of school for my kiddos and well my BODY was not moving from the bed. It is what it is! I did manage to get myself to the 7pm though and I was feeling great with the squats. Really great!

8/26/13 WOD

MetCon: 3 rounds 1 min max reps Air-squats, Ring Dips, Strict Pull Ups, NO REST. Then 100 hollow rocks
Then we have the MetCon and all the greatness fades away into holy crap this is gonna suck. Thank the baby Jesus that Air Squats were in there or my total reps would probably be 10. Ok maybe 12. My only hope to get a decent number in the next 9 minutes was to absolutely KILL the air squats. Because my Ring Dips are puny and my STRICT PULL UPs are worse than ever! I think the most Pull Ups I completed (with bands) was like 4. Granted the Pull Ups were the 3rd minute, so I was smoked from Ring Dips but I didn’t manage to do hundreds of those. I probably hit 20, 15 and 12 .. and that’s guessing because 2 days later I really can’t remember. Total Reps: 172. Once we regained some composure, we had to do 100 Hollow Rocks. I typically don’t mind these but today they were no fun. At about 80, I was cramping on my side. It felt like I cracked a RIB and of course I had to act like I actually did crack a rib. It was painful. The next 20 were miserable. I was miserable. The End!

8/28/13 WOD
And I made the earlybird class. Go me!
Skill: Pistols/Handstand Push Ups 20 minutes
But it’s a no go on Pistols and HSPU. But I put in enough work to already be drenched in sweat. ONE DAY. A day where I’m a little less fluffy for the HSPU but ONE DAY soon!

MetCon: 10 rounds of 30 Double Unders and 8 Power Cleans 115/80 Time Cap: 20 minutes
You ever walk into a WOD knowing that this is your bag? You got this! Superpowers and Fave Barbell movement. I’m in. This is easy! Ya, not so EASY today for me. Maybe it was the pizza at lunch or maybe it was the Chic-fil-a for dinner. Ya I’m pretty sure it was both! And the 5 hours of sleep I had. Go ME!

8/28/13 WOD

I started off strong with DUs. Then moved to Cleans and I’m thinking I’ll go UNBROKEN as long as I can until I got to 4, then I dropped the bar, rested and finished the other 4. DUs still ok for round 2 and I chugged along the same on the Cleans. It all became foggy and breathless for me after that. Somewhere between round 2 and round 8, I started doing 10 Power Cleans! I only realize this cause Coach asked me where I was at while I was hunched over, hands on knees and dying. I said I have 6 reps completed for the Cleans and he says 2 to go? And I say no 4. And he says out of 8? And I GO OH SHIT I’ve been doing 10 reps. So I have no clue where I went astray but for round 8, 9, 10 I KNOW I only did the 8 reps. Also toward the end I found some consistency in my DUs, which I needed badly. Time: MUCH LONGER THAN I MENTALLY anticipated: 17:50 RX

Lesson of the Day: Don’t eat a spicy chicken sandwich with pepperjack cheese, large fries and large sweet tea 6 hours before you have to do a 10round WOD with Double Unders and Power Cleans!

This was my first 5am for this week. Monday was lazy andTues/Thurs don’t go LIVE for 5am till next week. It’s been a nice baby stepped process for me to get back to the grind. Hopefully next week, I’ll be able to feel comfortable at getting up so early regularly.

It’s HUMP Day and I think from here on till forever I will always have the Geico Camel Hump Day Commerical in my head. Have a super duper Wednesday and don’t forget to be AWESOME!

GRACE as Prescribed

For those of you new to CrossFit, GRACE, is a workout. 30 Clean and Jerks for time. A simple but challenging benchmark workout that will beat you down but only for a short period. This morning was GRACE for us at the Boom Box. Not what I was really feeling for my not so graceful return to the 5 a.m class, ON A FRIDAY. I was sleepy, groggy and just overall bleh, but I was still THERE!

As Prescribed is the weight that the CrossFit Powers that be think is ideal to test yourself and to retest yourself over and over again. Hence, benchmark WOD. And for the females 95lbs is the prescribed weight. Someone like me does not just pick up a 95lb bar and go. In the early days, I started at a lower weight and hoped to survive. As I got stronger, the weight went up. Today was the first day I was going as PRESCRIBED or RX as us veterans would say. And for NO reason at all I was nervous. I wanted a good time for sure but I was still just dragging ass. Hello, it’s Friday, 5 a.m., my first week back to early mornings. I wanted/needed sleep. If there was an option to just walk out the door I would have picked that option.

Last October I did Grace for Barbells for Boobs, which by the way I plan to do again (hint, hint, I will be begging for donations) this October. I went with no fuel. I had not eaten all day, walked in late, barely warmed up and went. For some reason I had it in my head I went RX last year but turns out I only went at 85lbs. I was miserable but I was under pressure to do well. It wasn’t a competition but it was a little more intense than 5 a.m Friday morning. I was so nervous this morning my stomach was starting to hurt. We got the 10 second countdown and it was time to perform. I wanted to do sets of 5, my 1RM is either 105 or 110 or 115, but I’m not really sure. 95 has become NOT HARD, but still not easy for me. This morning my biggest struggle was holding onto the bar. My shoulders were not liking me very much. So I went for 3 reps and dropped the bar. Picked it back up and on my 6th rep, I about knocked myself out as I hit my chin on the way up for the Jerk. Brought the bar back to a rack position. Stood there dazed and pissed and finished that 6th rep only to drop the bar. I made it to 9 reps doing sets of 3. This was not boding well for me. I dropped to sets of 2. But by rep 16 I was only doing 1 at a time. But guess what? This felt so much better on my shoulders and as long as I didn’t stand around staring at the wall I was going to be alright. The holding onto the bar coming back down to the ground was just not working for me today. Time: 7:03. To be honest I did it last year at 85lbs in 6:06. But I was also in better mental and physical shape. But I was still hoping to beat that time even though I went 10lbs heavier weight and I’m much more back to a starting over phase. So you know I have to have the goal that come October I will BEAT that time. And hopefully, B4B won’t be before the sun comes up 😀

8/23/13 WOD

Other than that we did front squats but that’s so boring! Heheh. 4 sets of 5 at 65% of our 1RM. Lucky number 95lbs! Wooo, it was just in the cards for me to work at this weight today.

In other news, I had friend come watch this morning to see if CrossFit is something that is for her. She’s scared of bulking up, which most of you reading SHOULD KNOW that’s not just going to happen. Like anyone, she has and idea of where she wants to be and of course she has a timeframe. And as most of you know I HEART the CROSSFIT and I tell everyone all the time that I do, but I have a hard time convincing people to try it out. It’s a lose/lose for me sometimes. Why? Because I’m not some super ripped amazeballs looking human. I’m average, chunky, and a goofball. So what’s the problem? Well if I was super ripped amazeballs, everyone would be intimated and not come cause they would think they would have to look like me to do it. The truth is I’m an above average OOMPA LOOMPA and people probably think … “it’s not working for this girl!” So basically I’m screwed.

At one point I was lean and was getting some definition and probably more able to convince people to try it out but today not so much. So I ask you readers, how do you get people to at least come and check it out. My friend at least made the commitment to show up at 5 a.m. to watch so that’s a start! Most people laugh at my 5 a.m. check-ins on Facebook… yes I’m that annoying person, checking in all the time! She’s still not convinced it’s for her and it may not be. And watching people throw barbells over their head is probably pretty scary. But we do other things too, that are less miserable, it’s so hard to say how it will be fun in the end and the people are awesome and to come back and give it a try and not just be on the sidelines spectating. I did get her to semi-commit to coming out tomorrow for a Community WOD. So that’s step 2. What advice do you give people to come check out CrossFit and convince them it’s not going to kill them or make them into SHE-MEN?

And that’s all I got for this fantastic Friday! And I can tell you that I’m feeling that 2nd definition of GRACE, the favor of GOD. Feeling really blessed today in family and in fitness. Hope you all have a great day and weekend. It’s Friday! Be the most AWESOME you can be.

3 Pairs of CrossFit Shoes… and I’m not even that good at CrossFit!

That was the joke some of us had yesterday as some were getting ready to leave and taking off their “running” shoes. Then some of us were putting on our “lifting” shoes because we were about to do some squats. We look like we know what we’re doing. We look like professionals. We are CrossFitters. We are AWESOME.

Then Jeff, he’s 6ft forever and backsquats close to 500lbs, says “I have all these shoes in my bag. It’s crazy. And I’m not even that good at CrossFit!” I laughed. I was in total agreement. I’m not that good either but I look the part! I have 2 pairs of Nano’s which I love for most CrossFit things and for everyday use. I have Oly Shoes for the Oly lifting and I have 2 pair of Inov8s that I just busted back out for when we run, hoping they’ll be magical enough to make me be a better runner! Ha! I promise I know it’s not the shoe, it’s ME.

I received a lot of encouragement after yesterday’s depressing post. Thank you all! I love the support I have from my blogging buds and faithful readers. I know I’m a work in progress and I always will be. Once you get something figured out, you gotta move on to the next thing and sometimes you just go back and forth for a while and sometimes you just “get” it. I do love CrossFit and it has made me better physically and mentally. I’m tougher than I ever would have been had I just been sitting on the couch the past 2 years. Let me rephrase, I HAVE MADE ME BETTER. But CrossFit was definitely the driving force behind it. No matter how much I cry or whine, I still come back and take the beating. Hoping to grow, learn and get better. And I keep coming back because I have great coaches and a great CrossFit family who are AWESOMEness!

Moving on to today’s WOD. Which of course had more running involved, so guess what? Inov8s!!! The Skill was RUNNING and the MetCon had short runs. Oh boy, I guess I’ll get the work I said I needed. But I’m still not ready!

Coach had us hopping in place and leaning forward to get forward motion. Then he had us running in place. Knees up, feet pointing down, lean forward = move forward, upright = jogging in place. I pretty much sucked at that. So he busts out jump ropes. Jump rope while running forward. Now you have to have good form or you get tripped up on the rope. It took me a few tries but I finally got it down. The whole time Coach says don’t forget to apply this when we get outside. Are you kidding me? I’m struggling with the small isolated movements. Put me out in the wild and I’m supposed to still do these things. Let me be clear, all of this feels silly. Not one bit of it feels normal or comfortable. It’s almost as if we’re prancing. I know when I’ve learned to get all of the technique down I will be a better runner in the long run, but right now I’m just looking like a HOT MESS!

8/22/13 WOD

So it’s time for the MetCon: 400m run, 50 thrusters (35lbs), 400m run. Well I got thrusters at 35lbs. Not sure how I’ll feel after the first run, but it’s a light weight. I’ll be ok. And I was. Besides my calves wanting to explode off my legs. Not sure if Inov8s are hurting me or helping me at this point. But I get through my Thrusters 15, 10, 10, 7, 8 and back to running. I really tried to focus on all the things we just worked on but by the end I was just trotting along, walking, trotting. It was horrible. Time 10:03.

Post WOD I just rolled out my calves. Besides the normal aches and pains I get, it was my calves that were dying. I’m just hoping tomorrow brings NO RUNNING or sprints if we must do some sort of running. And no 400m will never be a SPRINT in my head.

One more day to go of getting up early and getting back to this routine I was so dedicated to in the past. It sure has taken it’s toll on me this week! I sleepy! But I’ll be ready to kill it next week at 5am. May even attempt to make it to tomorrow’s class instead of waiting till Monday.

That’s all for today. Happy Happy Day. Don’t forget to smile and laugh today! It only makes you more AWESOME!

The Scale Does Not Define Me, The Scale Does Not Define Me

The Scale DOES NOT DEFINE ME! It’s so hard. It really is soooooo hard to look at a scale and not make me turn into a calorie counting, starve myself nutcase. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the scale. CrossFit has really helped me drop most of my issues with that silly little contraption, but as with any obsession/addiction it still haunts you every now and then.

A few months ago, I did weigh myself and I was not happy with that weight. I told myself enough is enough. Getting fluffier was not an option. And guess what I got fluffier. I woke up at 5:20 this morning and dragged my fluffy ass to the scale. WHY would I torture myself? I can clearly see and feel that I’m not down to the weight I want to be. I don’t really have a “goal” weight but I know the weight I’m at is too much. But WHY are you weighing yourself cause it’s only gonna make you cry?

Welp. The WOD for the day was working on Overhead Squats. We had ten 1 rep attempts to get heavy. If we weren’t able to squat our weight we’d have to run 1 mile. Seriously? My last OHS for 1 rep was 90lbs. I didn’t want to weigh at the BOOM Box out of shame and embarrassment. But here I go to the world – My weight is 168lbs. Yup. I did it. I shared it with the world. I’m 5’2 folks! I’m short. I’m chunky. The upside is that more mass moves more weight (at least that’s what I keep telling myself and the scale does not define me). It’s bittersweet. A year ago I weighed around 135lbs. I’d much rather be at that weight right now. But I am not. I’d also like to be running an 8 minute mile again. But I am not.

So what’s a confused girl supposed to do? Starve herself. Start counting calories? Do triple workouts? UGH. This girl just wants to hide. But I can’t. If I were 300lbs I might qualify for Extreme Weight Loss. Chris Powell would help me find out why I turn to food for comfort. But I don’t have that much to lose and I don’t really turn to food for comfort. I just think it’s tasty! And I’m addicted to sweet tea. I think CLEAN food is tasty too. I have no problem eating clean, I just have a problem cutting out all the bad stuff. I always let it slip in and it’s mostly on the weekends that I sabotage myself. So just QUIT doing it, right? Well that’s the plan for this MOMENT in time. I just hope that come Friday, Saturday and Sunday I do just that. Sigh.

8/21/13 WOD

Enough poor me talk. I’m still alive. I’m still relatively healthy. And I’m still showing up to the BOOM Box even when I don’t wanna! So you already know it was all about the OHS squats. After a crazy, exhausting warm up. I was ready to just call it a day or start my run, because I knew I wasn’t squatting 168lbs. I KNOW that! Needless to say we still had to do the rep scheme. 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1. 90lbs is my previously recorded OHS. I’m not sure when that happened but sometime before Feb 2013 and sometime after Sept 2012. Overhead Squats used to be my nemesis.

With time, they are more of my friend. My wrists aren’t so puny anymore and although any large amount of OHS work will still cause some pain and havoc, I am much better. Knowing that I’m heavier, I know that I will be able to move more weight. I just wasn’t sure how MUCH more weight. So I set myself up for my 1RM of 90lbs to be my 5th attempt. Just in case I wasn’t that much stronger! Looking back, I wish I had made that my 2nd or 3rd attempt. I also wish we had more time to get the 10 reps in. I only made it to my 9th attempt before time ran out. If I didn’t have a J-O-B to get to, I would have definitely tried for the 10th attempt. But nooo I had to run that mile. So anyways, when going for a heavy 1 rep, one does not simply just make big jumps in weight. There’s a process… mental and physical. But sometimes that process needs to be pushed aside. Should have, would have, could have … I know. I just wished I had gone bigger. I had my 10th attempt set for 115lbs. Time was up at the 9th attempt. So I jumped right in and did 115 like it was a piece of cake! UGH I wish I had more time. I’m thinking at least 130, AT LEAST! None the less, I will take a 25lb PR. Grant, if you’re reading this I finally rang the PR bell. I know I’ve been resistant to ringing it but I felt good with the OHS PR.

As far as the run goes. My worst 1 mile EVER in the history of me running miles. 13:08. 2 years ago my 1 mile was 8:08. How am I getting so much worse. 2 1/2 years ago at my worst physical shape I managed an 11:40 something mile. So ya, my dread for running has to change. I’m not happy with the poor running so I HAVE to work on it so I can at least find some peace of mind in how fast I can run a mile. I’m not striving for a sub 6min time but getting back the 8’s would be helpful.

So LEAN out, RUN faster and figure out Pull Ups. That’s all right? Shoot me now. Hopefully the leaning out will boost the other two goals. Hopefully! Well it’s HUMP Day and I’m not happier than a camel, but I’ll manage! The scale does not define me. Make it a good day and remember to be AWESOME in all you do.

Rope Climbs Scare Me

Before I started writing this I thought I’d find some witty way leading into my scaredy cat fear. But there’s not a really good way for me to do that except to just say I have some unnatural fear of climbing a rope. It’s ridiculous when I think about it, yet I have no answer for myself or anyone else when it comes to actually doing it. It’s the same fear when trying to jump on a 30″ box. I get all ready to go. I’m determined, but once I take that step, I stop. Only thing with the rope climb is that my hands don’t want to let go of the rope. At all.

We worked on rope climbs the other day and I had some crazy death grip on the rope. My hands were sore for days! And I never got more than like 3 feet off the ground. So it’s not like I was going to plummet to my death. I know this. Today, we worked again on said rope climbs and the rope I was using didn’t have a lot of slack on it. I had to climb onto a box so when I grabbed the rope I had slack. Mind you I’m only standing on a 24″ box. Not scary. But scary when I reach for the rope. HOLY GEESH my insides freeze up.

Of course I googled “fear of rope climbs” and “scared of rope climbs” and I get nothing. I’m the only person in the world that is scared. Confidence level -10.

Coach is patient with me, THANK GOODNESS, but I’m sure he thinks I’m a loonball. Believe me, I feel silly about the whole situation too. I shouldn’t be scared. But in the end I’m a girl baby who freezes up! The one thing Coach helped me with that I will have to practice (in all my free time) is to start up higher and practice coming down. It took me a few moments of telling myself I can jump onto this rope off of this now 30″ box. I’ll be ok. I even said outloud I’m scared to just get it out of me. I finally grabbed onto the rope and worked on coming down, but it was a sloppy mess. I have convinced myself that’s it not the actual climbing up that’s scary, it’s the coming down. So hopefully this will help in the end. Again, in my head I know I would NEVER willingly let myself fall but it’s like I don’t trust me at all. When and if I get up there I don’t know that I will be able to come down without breaking my neck. I guess the best thing is that I still tried. But really, can someone hypnotize me to not be scared? Thanks!

8/20/13 WOD
Skill: ROPE CLIMB
Scaredy Cat

MetCon: 9 MU, 400m run, 7MU, 400m run, 5MU, 400m run
For us non Muscle Uppers, and not Chest to Bar folks. Just us ol Pull Uppers (with bands for me of course), we had to do 15, 12 and 9. So far today is a day of suck. Rope Climbs, Pull Ups and Running. My top weaknesses all in one day. How fun. But I didn’t sleep in. I showed up cause no matter how scared or how crappy I am at all the above, I knew sleeping in wasn’t going to help me get better! I moved as fast as I could on the Pull Ups. Only to move slow on my runs. Halfway through my first run, my right calf and hip were on fire. By the end of that run my shin was about to spontaneously combust. I’m sure of it. For the rest of the runs, it was just misery. I’d run/walk/run. I’ve never had shin pain like that until today. A combo of being completely stress on the rope. My right leg being my lead leg maybe was traumatized, lol. Who knows. I rolled it out the best I could post-WOD but I’m it will probably be achy for a day or two. Time: 14:23

8/20/13 WOD

Food note: I know it’s been a long time since I shared any food with you but I did make Avocado Deviled Eggs yesterday. I didn’t follow anyone’s recipe, just kind of winged it.

I used:
4 hardboiled eggs
1/2 avocado
splash of olive oil
mustard (although I don’t recommend, after taste test)
bacon

I’m a fan of deviled eggs and I prefer to use paleo mayo but I didn’t have that on hand. I did, however, have avocados. I’ve seen links and posts and always thought it sounded weird, but I was about to give it a try anyways.

Just like regular deviled eggs, you scoop out the yolk into a bowl and mash it all up. I then added avocado and continued mashing. The consistency was too thick for my liking so I added a little olive oil. This was helping but I still felt like it wasn’t enough. So even though avocado and mustard don’t sound great, I thought the mustard would help. I love the tang of mustard and it’s what I use in a normal deviled egg mixture but I wasn’t sure what would come of it. Stirred it all together and spooned it out into my egg halves. Topped with chopped up bacon. They looked pretty at least! And they tasted alright too. The mustard addition probably wasn’t the best idea though. I will definitely give it another try with the mustard.

So that’s all folks for this beautiful Tuesday. Let me know how you deal with silly fears. And don’t forget to be awesome!

The Early Birds Can Have Their Worms!

Last week I had planned to get back up and at ’em for the morning workouts but that failed. This week it’s a must that I start moving to the A.M. classes. My oldest has football that is interfering with the 5 a.m. time slot so I opted for the 6 a.m., taking this as a baby step before I hit the EARLY morning WODs next week when school starts.

And boy oh boy did it SUCK! I don’t want to be an early bird anymore. I want to be an ~~night~~ evening owl. I don’t know how I managed to get up so early for over 2 years. In the few short months I switched over to evening classes, I have become spoiled. There are good things for getting up so early, I guess, for example my workout is DONE. But I think right now that’s the only thing going for me Seriously, it’s better all around. The boys are going to be busy in the evenings and it will be too hard to juggle workouts around their schedules. And until I can become a stay at home mom, the 5 a.m class is just going to have to do. FOREVER!

So I did manage to stuff my face with all bad things and managed to avoid any real activity in regards to being fit. I cheered on my Boom Boxmates at Europa, so if that counts as a workout I’ll take it! No? It doesn’t? Damn it! I don’t even think I broke a sweat the whole weekend.

8/19/13 WOD
This morning was a different story. I was paying for all my food sins. Add the early morning groggy and I was just a HOT MESS!

Strength: Back Squats 5@65% 5@70% 5@75% 5@80%
I wasn’t too sure how the squats would go. Sometimes, on a Monday at 7 p.m., I think the bar is soooo heavy. So at 6 a.m. will it feel even heavier? Fortunately it wasn’t too bad. Worked my way up to 110lbs, 115lbs, 125lbs and 130lbs. And I felt fine!

8/19/13 WOD

MetCon: Fight Gone Bad – 3 rounds; complete as many reps as possible in 1 minute of: Burpees, KB swings (Russian) 70/53, Double Unders, Push Press (95, 65), Row for calories and Rest.
Oy vay! Was I ready for such misery? I think not! But I have no choice. And I was going RX. This is where the bad eating all weekend was going to show up. Burpees! I knew in my head I wasn’t going to kill myself with burpees. Got 16 my first round. and dropped to 12 reps the next two rounds. The Kettle Bell felt super heavy at 53lbs and I was struggling to hold on to that damn thing but managed to get 15-20 reps each round. I just couldn’t will myself to hold on for the whole minute and took way too much rest. Moved on to DUs and couldn’t get them going. Oh I was mad. The one thing I can get reps on and I’m failing miserably. Finally after 30 seconds in, I got some rhythm. Managed to do better on the following rounds. Then it was on to Push Press. I know I knocked out 10 reps easy, then slowed down a lot. On the rower I averaged about 10 calories each round. My rounds were close… 80 something, 90 something and 80 something. Final: 262 reps RX

I survived! We’ll see if how well tomorrow goes. Happy Monday folks! It’s a great day to start something new. So go ahead and do it already! What are you waiting for? It will only make you more AWESOME!

Just a smidge of crazy

So I may be a little OCD (obsessive CrossFit disorder) and I could have taken a REST day but I didn’t. Yesterday was a busy day full of my kid’s registrations at 3 different schools. And here in my neck o’ the woods it’s a process. Throw in Freshman Parent Orientation and it’s just an all day extravaganza! On top of that I squeezed in a BOOM Box session.

Why oh why? No idea except that I’m crazy! Certified crazy. Because it wasn’t any ol’ WOD, it was ANGIE. 100 Pull Ups, 100 Push Ups, 100 Sit Ups and 100 Air Squats! It was my birthday. I should have just stayed home. No need to take on this insane workout but I figured why not.

Pull Ups are my weakness! I suck at them. Even though I wish I were magical and could just do them, I take ZERO extra time or energy to be better at them. So for 2 years I’ve struggled. And this workout was no exception.

8/15/13 WOD

Pull Ups first. 100 of them. I started with the Green Band and wasn’t moving very fast. 20 maybe in 3 minutes. So I threw in a second Blue band. This helped for 2 seconds then I was back to struggling. My hand pain tolerance is non-existent. No matter how well I tape up, my hands hurt. It took me damn near 21 minutes to finish 100 Pull Ups. Coach gave us a 30 minute cap. I know I will not FINISH but how close can I get. I fought through the Push Ups, 10 at a time at first, then mostly 5 at a time, but sometimes only 2 at a time. Moved onto Sit Ups knowing I could hopefully go UNBROKEN. I just wanted to get to Air Squats but I can only do Sit Ups so fast. Time! UGH! 62 Sit Ups completed. This was a butt whoopin. I should have just done Birthday Burpees. But I did not! Ah well. I must make Pull Ups a goal. I MUST!

That’s all for today. I’ll be having 3 days off in a row! What will I do? The answer is I should do something active at least 1 of those 3 days but tonight I’ll be at the Ranger game and tomorrow I’ll be supporting and cheering on Boom Boxmates at Europa. Kind of wish I was competing but I’m so not competition ready! And Sunday I’ll be a lazy bum I’m sure.

Let’s just hope I don’t stuff my face full of badness too! I hope all of y’all have a fantabulous weekend! And as always be AWESOME!

Squirrel

I finally beginning to like where I’m at right now. The brain fog is clearing and energy levels are up. And I’m so excited for feeling great that I want to share everything with y’all but it’s not cohesive (cause I’m scatterbrained) and I don’t know where to start!

Reading other blogs, catching up on favorite sites, reading new articles about health and fitness are exciting again. When I’m poor poor petri, sometimes diving into all of that is more depressing and it’s easier to just ignore, ignore and ignore. Why? Because then I don’t have to feel bad about myself for being a loser. It does the opposite of motivating. But when I’m feeling good, I’m FEELING GOOD! Everything is exciting again. The light is ON! So I know that I’m probably annoying to those sitting on the couch. Those putting it off till tomorrow or MONDAY cause they messed up yesterday. And annoying I will be. Cause maybe one of you sitting on the sidelines will have that AHA moment. And if it’s just ONE then I’m okay with that. And maybe those of you already doing work but getting tired will find some new hope or outlook. And then maybe some of you just LOVE me so much you just read to read!

Where to start on all my randomness.. how about… Who watched Extreme Weight Loss last night? Mike was insanely awesome. One of the BEST participants ever. I wanna be like Mike. He got to 10% body fat! He did the work and didn’t complain or make excuses. Sure it’s not DRAMA made for TV but it was good to see someone go in focused like that and KILL it.

Also, on one of the morning shows here in DFW, a radio host proclaimed her goal of destroying CrossFit! Really? She says it ruins marriages and wanted people to call in to tell how it did ruin their marriage. Only two of the callers said it put a strain on the marriage and the other few could only proclaim it’s AWESOMENESS. If I were a caller-in kind of gal I would have probably chewed her butt out. I mean seriously? Someone having a passion for being healthy is ruining marriages. There is something much deeper than CrossFit ruining that marriage if it’s being destroyed in any sense. I know more married people and couples that do CrossFit together than anyone who is losing their relationship because of it. Totally crazy. I just have no other words.

This article is great: 3 Reasons to Get Upset About CrossFit

I also came across this Catalyst article encouraging women to lift. Some of it’s not me but I get where it could encourage women to start on it already: 10 Things New Women Weightlifters Should Know

Speaking of lifting. Since I started CrossFit, I learned I actually liked lifting. I had never really LIFTED weights other than dumbbells and whatever machines are staples in big, i barely went, walk past weights, drain my bank account gyms. But some days it was a chore and not fun. I had to do it because it was programmed but I wasn’t necessarily enjoying it. I have found the past couple of weeks I am really ENJOYING all of the strength work we do. I’m feeling super awesome about it each rep, set, etc… I ache less and when I do ache, I just mobilize more. But I’m feeling SOLID when I lift. Not weird or awkward. I’m even enjoying Overhead Squats which in the beginning were so miserable to work on. If only I could get some good feelings about Snatching! UGH that lift drives me BONKERS!

In other news, I’m even considering signing up for some competitions. My running endurance sucks but hopefully running isn’t a major thing in anything upcoming. One of my boxmates, Mel, suggested one but we found it had PULL UPs, so instead of just finally buckling down and working on PULL UPs we passed! LOL, such beasts we are! In all reality I need to make that a goal but for now I just wanna compete. So there are a few events in the near future and I’m hoping to throw myself out there. It’s been a year since the last time I competed. It should be fun, no, I know it will be fun. My blogging friend over at Wine to Weightlifting had a great post: 8 Reasons You Should Compete in a Crossfit Competition. Since I have already competed, I KNOW why I should do it again. But it reinspired me to actually want to do it!

And to finalize my random thoughts for today, My WOD yesterday, I KILLED IT! YAAAAA! It wasn’t like I was #1 on the board or anything but I was at least up there and with an RX!

8/13/13 WOD
TABATA Row (the goal is 1000m)
I’ve done TABATA a lot of things, but never a ROW! Should be fun. And I did find some fun in it. I’m not a good rower. But unlike running, I want to be a better rower. I do! I find some peace in it, maybe the same kind of peace that runners find in running. And I just want to be good at it. So I’m trying and I’m finding I am getting a lil better. Not leaps and bounds better, but I’m figuring out a rhythm for my OOMPA LOOMPA self. I didn’t get 1000m but I got 784. So I wasn’t horrible but I really wanted 1000m!

8/13/13 WOD

MetCon: 4 rounds of a 3 min AMRAP of 24 DU (mod is 12 Burpees) and 6 OHS (95,65) rest 1 min between rounds

Super Powers Activate! Double Unders. Yup, my super power. That’s the one thing I do at the box where a good chunk of folks are impressed. And I’m not SUPER GREAT at them. There are folks far more superior in our box and out of our box. But for where I stand in the world of CrossFit I’m at a good place. I want to share my super power but it’s definitely something you have to figure out on your own.

FOUR – 3 minute AMRAPS. I wasn’t sure how that was going to play out. 3 minutes isn’t a long time but it’s long enough to get work in. I just wasn’t sure where I would fall in. I was determined to go RX on Overhead Sqauts. The weight wasn’t super heavy but I figured between that and DUs my shoulders were going to fade fast. Plus Coach wanted us to do the OHS UNBROKEN so I had to will myself to stay strong. And it worked. After each set of DUs, I took a little bit of a pause so I could catch my breath, then I’d get right to it. I wasn’t popping up and down like an Elite athlete but I was getting the work done. Slow and steady. It felt like all of my first reps were wonky but once I got set, the rest of the reps were more stable. I had a mean face on. See pic below. I’m just in the background but it’s a look of determination and focus.

Stole this from Noah. Thanks!

I wasn’t going to FAIL. I’m pretty sure I’d be scared of me if I saw me! This wasn’t a walk in the park for me but for once I wasn’t doubting myself or wanting to quit. Final: 9round + 4 DUs

So there you have it! TWO days in a row of blogging. Is this my comeback back to back post? Eh, I don’t know about that. But like I said, I’m feeling better again and that’s always a good thing FOR EVERYONE around! I tried not to be too long winded in my randomness. And as I typed away I started losing some of the floating thoughts. Probably a good thing for today. I hope everyone is having a Happy Hump Day! Go out and share your AWESOMENESS!

Being Consistent

Consistency does pay off. I know it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that but I think all of us will try to make excuses for everything if we let ourselves. Just because 2 weeks of trying to eat better and exercise isn’t showing any results doesn’t mean that the 3rd week, the week you may have quit, wasn’t going to be your “golden” week. It may even be the second month. But you will NEVER know if you QUIT!

I’m pretty sure most of us always want those INSTANT results. In a time of growing technology, the faster the better! Quick food, quick apps, quick everything. Quick weight loss and body results are just fantasy! The stuff we see in magazines. The mid day shows that promise and guarantee weight loss without putting in the WORK that it really takes to achieve those goals. We all want the easy route. Who doesn’t want that route? Only thing is, it’s not easy. EVEN if one of those gimmicky plans worked, it would only be for the short term. Why even bother? I want results and I want the results to stay. I was on track, being the most awesome I have ever been and then I derailed. Big time. Gained some LBs and woke up and said WHOA where did those come from? Well they came from stuffing my face and showing up to the Boom Box like once a week. My consistency went down the drain and I was a HOT MESS and it was ugly.

Now I’ve cleaned up MOST of my eating, not all but most. I promise, FOOD, it’s a bad addiction sometimes. But I’m cleaning it up and I’m CONSISTENTLY showing up to the BOOM Box and whaddyaknow…. my progress is showing up in WODs and in my strength. Again, this doesn’t take an expert to know that putting in work will make you better, stronger and faster (well faster is questionable in my case :D). But it’s something that I know we all just put to the side. We make excuses. We justify our poor eating habits and lack of exercise through busy lives and schedules.

With my dedicated 4-6 workouts a week and at least 80% clean eating, heavy weight is becoming easier light weight. PRs are here. And I’m feeling that confidence come back that comes with killing WODs. Although I’m still a MAJOR work in progress, it’s coming along. Much slower than I was planning but it’s coming along none the less!

8/6/13 WOD and my 2nd ever DNF (womp womp)
If you look closely at the pic next to my name there is NOTHING. No time recorded. It was a sad day for me mentally and physically. I had just flown through Power Cleans at 95lbs and was feeling great and was actually looking forward to the Kettle Bell Swings and Toes To Bar.

8/6/13 WOD

I’m not great at TTB but I’ve made some progress and I’m getting them knocked out even if it’s only 1 at a time. It wasn’t till my last round of TTB that I just lost all my energy, juice, mojo, etc. My toes weren’t touching that bar. I struggled a lot in the round of 15 but managed to finish. I thought 9 more wasn’t out of the question. But for this day, it was completely not going to happen. Not in the class time anyways. I probably had 50 ALMOST TTB but only managed about 5 for that last round. The next class was already starting and I wasn’t going to be able to knock out the last 4. I knew I didn’t have it in me. And I realized that it was going to be OKAY if I didn’t finish. I wasn’t going to get kicked out of the BOOM Box. No one was going to tell me I was a loser, except for me of course and the world was going to keep on spinning. It did take the wind out of my sails for a few hours but I realized I did 41 TTB in about 20 minutes which in the end was pretty GREAT for me who sucks at the TTB. I felt much better the next day and I know that I made progress.

8/7/13 WOD
I wasn’t sure how I would feel walking back into the BOOM Box after sucking so bad the day before but I was fine. The WOD wasn’t for time. There was just work to be done.

MetCon: 3 rounds of Row 250m and 8 Box Jumps 40in/30in THEN 3 x 8 @ 90% of 5RM Press and 1 x ME @ 70% 4 sec negatives

We worked on Box Jumps and well I’m scared of the box and I don’t know why but I am. I jumped a few times on the 20in, then a few on the 24in, then just stared at the 30in. Went back to 24in and put a 25lb plate on top. Made it. Put another 25lb plate on top. Made it. Ok I’m good right there.

8/7/13 WOD

That was till we rowed. It was only a 250m row As Fast As I Could Go. But it was enough to take some JUMP out of my legs. So I took one of the 25lb plates away and jumped on the one. That probably made it a 27in jump. I didn’t measure. But I finished!

We moved onto strict Press afterwards and 65lbs was my 5RM from the week before so I went off that. Each set started off great but it was always at the 6th rep where I felt it hit me. Still got through the last 2 reps but the weight felt so HEAVY. My shoulders were dying by the end and I wasn’t sure how long I’d last with those negatives. I started off feeling like this will be easy but I only managed about 12 reps. My triceps were on FIRE!

8/9/13 WOD
Strength: Front Squats 4 @75%, 3×4 @80%
That puts me at 110lbs and 115lbs. Surprisingly this was feeling pretty good. I didn’t struggle. Woohoo, getting stronger.

8/9/13 WOD

MetCon: 5 rounds of 9 Deadlift 85lbs, 6 Power Clean and 3 Power Snatches
I can DL 85lbs easy breezy. Power Clean 85lbs fairly well but it’s a NO WAY on the Power Snatch. Theoretically I should be able to do it. But that Brain of mine likes to get in the way. But I needed to settle on a weight I could do. So I warmed/worked my way up to 75lbs. My current best. And it felt good. So I stepped up to 80lbs. DONE! PR right there. I thought well hey I got this, so I added 5 more pounds and maybe just maybe I can do this RX. Got the weight to my eyeballs and failed. There was no dropping under that weight. Boldly I decided I would work with 80lbs. Good or bad idea. I wasn’t sure till the clock started. I failed on my first 2 attempts in the first round! I should drop weight is what I immediately told myself. But I gave it one more shot and although it was sloppy I got the weight up. Took some deep breaths and finished out the 3 reps. Still debated if I should drop in weight and talked myself into staying at the weight. It wasn’t a matter on if it was too heavy, it was just a matter of me doing it. Plus it was only 3 reps at a time. Again these weren’t the prettiest Snatches but I wasn’t HURTING or feeling like I was going to be hurt so I stuck with it. 5 rounds was not an easy task. That’s 45 Deadlifts, 30 Power Cleans and 15 Power Snatches, at a Personal BEST I might add! Time: 10:53

8/10/13 Community WOD
Finally a Community WOD that didn’t involve running! I was so excited! Of course until Coach explained what was going to go down. And then, and then and then. That’s all I heard. Teams of 4; 2 guys, 2 girls. 50 Thrusters each (my once favorite now least favorite movement). While the guys are going the girls will be holding Kettle Bells (35lb) overhead. Girls can’t drop the KB and if they do guys must stop doing Thrusters. Girls can transfer KB but only from overhead position. And no one can let the barbell touch the ground! DOH! That’s a lot of weight not being able to touch the ground. Who knows how long this will take. Our guys, Kyle and Micah, did great. Breaking up their sets nicely and not dropping the bar. Us ladies did fine managing how long we held onto the KB before switching. Once the guys were done we had to change the weight on the barbell before continuing. Almost moved too quickly removing weight but it all worked out fine. I went first on the Thrusters (55lbs). Annette and I decided to start of with sets of 10 and if we had to drop to sets of 5 then so be it. Just do the work. I was feeling great doing sets of 10 until I finished my 3rd set. I knew I wouldn’t survive that again. So I said I HAD to do sets of 5. This way I wouldn’t quit or be tempted to drop the bar. I moved as fast as I could. RUNNING wasn’t involved, I had no excuses! I think Annette and I had a good pace going and a good way of transferring the bar between us. I know our guys weredoing just fine holding the 53lb KB. Never let it down. Time: 12:05! FInally KILLED a Saturday WOD.

8/12/13 WOD SQUAT HEAVY DAY
Strength: Back Squats; 5 @70%, 5 @ 80%, 2 @85%, 3 @90% and 1 @100%
Everything was feeling AWESOME till I got to 2 @85%. IT felt so HEAVY. Manageable but HEAVY, so I wasn’t sure what 3 @90% would be. Guess what? It felt lighter than 85%. So weird but definitely good. So hitting the 1 rep at 165lbs was great! Really looking forward to a PR!

MetCon: 3 rounds of 400m run, 15 Ring Dips and 10 Burpee Handstand Get Ups
UGH! more running. If it weren’t for the running I would have beat this WOD up, no problem. But there was that run. Each round. And they were ugly slow runs. I went with the Green Band for the Ring Dips. My shoulders are sensitive creatures and I didn’t want to blow them out. My first round I did 10 and 5. My second round I did UNBROKEN! And my third round I went 8 and 7. As for Burpee Handstand Get Ups, they weren’t miserable but they weren’t fun. I’ve explained in the past I have a hard time breathing heavy and being UPSIDE DOWN. It’s just hard to breathe when you are out of breath. I knocked these out in sets of 5 each round. Just to regain some composure. I surely didn’t want to fall over out of dizziness or something worse. Time: 21:20. The runs did me in

8/12/13 WOD

How’s that a for a week of ups, downs and all arounds? I’m slowly getting back into everything and I’m struggling and succeeding. All part of it. Learning and growing. Being consistent! Hopefully I’ll get back to a more normal blogging schedule as well. This once a week posting is sad. So hopefully I’ll get back to more of daily thing. Who knows. Have a happy and joyful Tuesday. And until you see me again… next week?? hahah, Be AWESOME!

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

Month: August 2013

Didn’t Die and Didn’t Quit

Bread does a Body Bad

GRACE as Prescribed

3 Pairs of CrossFit Shoes… and I’m not even that good at CrossFit!

The Scale Does Not Define Me, The Scale Does Not Define Me

Rope Climbs Scare Me

The Early Birds Can Have Their Worms!

Just a smidge of crazy

Squirrel

Being Consistent

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