Naptime yet?

Holy smokes I’m tired today. But first of all, HELLO to all you new peeps. I don’t know who sent you or where you came from, but WELCOME! Feel free to comment and share how you found me. I’d love to thank whoever is sending you my way.

Just an FYI, I’m typically a hot mess of a blogger and I tend to come off as a big ol whiny baby, but I assure you that I LOVE all things CROSSFIT. And no matter how much I cry or sound like a debbie downer, I still show up and put work in and eventually progress is made. I try to share all my experiences and although I’ve been slacking in the recipe department, I do hope to catch up on that and start being a more productive blogger. I live a busy life, so this is more of an outlet than a job. One day though I rule the world! Ok probably not, but I’m here anyways. Again, thanks for finding me. I hope you stick around 🙂

Back to my ramblings. So I stated I needed to focus on my clean eating so I can release this extra fluff I’ve accumulated on my body. Really to that “not liking” myself stage and I really don’t like feeling like that. That’s a lot of dislike going on around here. And most of you probably know how that just snowballs into a big ol quitters mentality. But yesterday I stayed strong. I even added a mini WOD at my kiddo’s baseball practice last night. We all know I despise running, so I figured I need to work on that. I did a Death by about 20yds, give or take some yards. My oldest son and I looked it over and both agreed it was about 20 yds. So I’ll just stick with that!

If you don’t know what DEATH BY ________ is then let me share. You take a movement, in my instance 20 yd sprint/run/jog. You start a clock. In minute 1 you do 1 rep of the movement and rest till minute 2. In minute 2, you do 2 reps of the movement and rest till minute 3. You keep adding a rep each minute. When you can no longer complete the amount of reps to equal the minute you are on, you are done. So if you are at the 10 minute mark and you only completed 9 reps then you tap out. Done son. And I finished didn’t make it past 10 minutes. It was brutal, I was so out of breath but I soooo worked a weakness.

And if that wasn’t enough I did 5 rounds of 10 butterfly sit ups and 5 Hand Release Push Ups. I got sidetracked with some other kiddos who were interested in joining me. Which was AWESOME. Yay for inspiring little ones to get their workout in! I finished under 3 minutes but took some time to explain what I was doing.

Stayed eating clean for dinner even though Chick-fil-a was the “fast” food option for the rest of the family. We get home after 9 on a school night, the boys need food ASAP … don’t judge! LOL, Heck judge all you want. We make it work when we can. I then stayed up way past my bedtime to roast a chicken to ensure I had no excuses to eat out for lunch!

9/4/13 WOD
I dragged my sleepy, chunky butt into the BOOM Box knowing I wasn’t liking what was on the white board!

Skill: Skin the cat Try and work up to the straight bar.
Uhm ya, we worked on this a couple of months ago and well I’m not any closer to mastering this movement. With some assistance from Coach T, I managed. This time around it didn’t completely kill my shoulders. That’s definitely a good sign but still not a skill I can proudly claim.

Skin the Cat

MetCon: TABATA! One leg split squats (one foot on bench or box), Burpees, Kb swings, True Push-ups
If you know TABATA, you know it’s good but it’s killer. TABATA is taking a movement and going hard for 20 seconds, then resting for 10 seconds. Rinse and Repeat for 4 minutes. That’s 8, 20 second rounds. But we’re not done yet folks. You keep count of how many reps you completed. And you take your lowest rep count for your score. The key is to keep up the intensity even though you feel like quitting. Yay fun!

9/4/13 WOD

For the One Leg Split Squats we alternated legs. So 4 rounds per leg. You might think ooo a little break for the legs, but there is no such thing. I managed to get 10 per leg in the first couple of rounds but dropped to 8.

I knew the Burpees were going to be my downfall. I started off strong with 6, then 5, then 4 for the rest of the time. Not cool TABATA BURPEES, NOT COOL!

PreWOD I knew I could knock out some KB swings. But I was so smoked from Burpees I didn’t fare so well. I started off weak with a late start and only managed 12. The second round I lost grip of the KB and was done at 4 reps. I was so pissed I just stood there. I stuck with 4-6 the rest of the rounds but 4 was my score. I was not happy.

Then it came down to True Pushups, not HR Push UPs which I could have been somewhat successful. Good ol fashion ones. My score was 3. Yes 3. Note for future self: WORK ON PUSH UPs.

Totals: 8, 4, 4, 3 = 19 Booooooo

We’ll see what tomorrow morning brings. Hopefully I get to bed at a better time tonight. Happy Hump Day folks! Be AWESOME!!

Focus

It’s time for me to put my game face on and focus on my eating habits. It’s time for me to put away the excuses and get back to clean eating. I’m considering competing in a competition in December. A LONG ways a way right now (even though I’ll blink and it will be here), but registration is in a month. So I need to get my shit together mentally and physically, NOW, so that I won’t feel all bleh and icky about actually signing up in October. From there I have 2 months to focus even more. So FOCUS is my primary thought in all things food. I know it will be a struggle because I’ve dug such a deep hole. And I know I won’t be perfect, but I gotta get pretty darn close!

9/2/13 HOTSHOTS 19 MEMORIAL WOD

Nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighting team tragically lost their lives on June 30, 2013 while fighting a fire in Yarnell, AZ.

If you aren’t of the CrossFit world you wouldn’t know that there are HERO WODS. These workouts are designed to serve as an “in memory” of fallen heroes. They are tough, grueling and sometimes damn near impossible to complete. The Hero WODs from CrossFit are named after heroes who have given their lives in the line of duty. Their purpose is to remind us to think outside of ourselves.

The HOTSHOTS WOD was and is a fundraiser to help support the families of the Granite Mountain Hotshots crew. On Aug. 31, a huge event went down in Prescott, AZ. Many Elite Athletes showed up. The CrossFit Community in general showed up. It was an amazing thing to watch. If you are able to donate then you can do so here: https://hotshots19.crossfit.com/

We at CrossFit Boom along with many other Boxes nationwide went on to tackle the HOTSHOTS 19 MEMORIAL WOD for this past Labor Day.

Six rounds for time of:
30 Squats
135 pound Power clean, 19 reps
7 Strict Pull-ups
Run 400 meters

To be honest when I see HERO WODs I run for the hills. The workouts tend to be well over 30 minutes, often times up to an hour long. And even though I know the purpose to DO and REMEMBER, I just see PAIN. But I wasn’t going to run away from the workout! Plus it was a day off from work so I could roll in for the 9 a.m. class, which is quite nice. Way better than 5 a.m.

9/2/13 HOTSHOTS 19 MEMORIAL WOD

I opted for the 85lbs Power Cleans, which I knew would get heavy halfway through, but once I committed, I was committed. I started off great. All up until the RUN. And runs walks were slow. This is where most of my time was eaten up. Every round I moved fairly well from squats to power cleans to pull ups (banded). I did all 30 airsquats for the first two rounds, but broke them up into 10’s or 15’s for the last 4 rounds. I started off in small sets for the Power Cleans, but picked up the pace the further along I got. Not sure how that actually worked for me but it did. By the last rounds I was doing 8 and 9 Unbroken before opting for smaller sets. It was the 400’s that were at a snail pace! It was bad. We only had 45 minutes of class time to complete the workout. I knew that wasn’t going to happen. There wasn’t a class afterwards, so Coach let me finish my final round. Time: 56:06

Hopefully the FOCUS on eating better will allow me to lean out, which in turn will lighten me up, which will then lead to better run times. HOPEFULLY!

9/3/13
And it’s back to the “get up before the suns up” workouts. I’m still sticking with my theory that the bars are heavier in the MORNING!

Strength: Back Squats 5@60% 3@70% 2@80% 2@90% 1@95% 1@103%
Whoa nelly! 103% That is an auto PR if I hit it. I have never seen over 100% on the board. I know I’ve been feeling strong and I know that I’ve been wanting a new 1RM and today would be the day. It was only 5lbs but it was 5lbs more than I’ve ever done. NEW 1RM at 170lbs! So it was nice. But after that 1 REP, I lost the desire to really test my 1RM. It was HEAVY this morning!

9/3/13 WOD

MetCon: For Time 15 Wall Walks, 10 T2B, 5 MU, 10 T2B, 15 Wall Walks
Oh how my brain deceived me, I thought it said WALL BALLS. And if you KNOW me at all… I would never want to do wall balls. But I’d rather throw a damn med ball than do a freakin wall walk. They make me dizzy. They are dumb and well they are dumb.

I haven’t had to do wall walks in my fluffy state, so they were even more miserable than I remembered. UGH! Needless to say it took for ever to do the first 15 and it took even more forever to do the last 15. I did Knees to Elbows instead of Toes To Bar. And I did 15 Banded Pull Ups instead of the 5 MU. Time: HORRIBLE 14:42. My shoulders hate me.

That’s all I got for y’all for this HOT HOT TEXAS TUESDAY. If you are like me and need to get back on the clean eating train… then let’s do this! Start today, start tomorrow,…. just start this week. OK? GREAT! Make today AWESOME!

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!

idrankthecfkoolaid

and it's good

crossfit

Naptime yet?

Focus

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

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