Fran

Another year, a better year

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It’s 2014 ladies and gents. I hope everyone enjoyed not only their Christmas but ringing in the new year as well. As you all know, January is the month to start fresh. Gym memberships increase. Weight loss plans go into play. Etc. Etc. And yes I will join the cliché and “start over”.

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I’ve never been one to make resolutions or goals really. I kind of say it in my head what I want to do but never write it down, unless I say it here in the good ol’ blog. I think mostly because I don’t want to let myself down by not meeting my goal or holding on to my resolution. This year will be different! I have some things I need to get accomplished physically, mentally, in the gym, outside of the gym and everything in between. But I’ll only bore you with my health and fitness goals 😀

My Health Goals:

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1. Annihilate Chunky Monkey
2. Be a better planner/organizer so that all of my goals come to fruition.
3. Eat Clean 90% of the year. There will be vacations and there will be life celebrations and life just happens. But I really want to live that clean eating dream.
4. Complete at least one Whole30. This starts January 6th for me. And is the boost to eating clean for the year.
5. Dedicate at least 15 minutes a day at home to mobilizing/stretching. Work my way up to 30 minutes a day.
6. Get a freaking Pull Up. This includes making the time to work on this movement at home.
7. Improve my attitude towards running. I think some weight loss will help in this area. A lighter me will be a less oompa loompa me!
8. Lose weight. I’m not putting a number on this. I know where I’m at, where I’ve been and what’s ideal as far as I look and feel. I’ve learned to not weigh obsessively over the past two years and I’m not going to let that get in my head again. I just need these added layers of flub to be gone. Hopefully in the next 3 months.

I don’t think I’m asking too much of myself and I’m just hoping I can make all of the above HABITS. What are your goals? What do you want 2014 to bring?

Boom Box Recaps
12/31/13
Skill: Turkish Get Ups
Welp, with a bum wrist these aren’t ideal for me. So coach had me do some mobility. MUCH needed mobility! And some KB swings. Bleh.

12/31/13 WOD

12/31/13 WOD

MetCon: “Annie“ 50-40-30-20 and 10 rep rounds of: Double Unders and Sit Ups
Oh Annie, this is one MetCon I can kill, 8 months ago. But now, not so much :/ I’ve never been so slow at sit ups. In April I had a sub8 time. For the last day of the year I had a time of 9:07. And it was the sit ups that got me! I thought I had my 50 DUs unbroken but failed at 44, then at 46, then at 47. So frustrating. But I did 40 unbroken. At 30 I did like 15, then 15. For 20, I did 18 or something dumb and failed. And I managed to do 10 unbroken. I only stopped twice during Sit Ups but there were on SLOW MO. I thought I was going to puke. Thankfully I did not!

I felt like Annie was a good way to finish the year. And a good benchmark for me to retest in a couple of months. With clean eating and hopefully some weight loss, I hope to destroy my 7:58 time from April 2013!

1/1/13 FRAN NIGHT
I went back and forth on if I was going to go to Fran Night. Every year CrossFit Boom rings in the new year with FRAN: 21, 15, 9 of Thrusters and Pull Ups – the dirtiest girl WOD out there. I knew I couldn’t physically do the actual workout because I can’t do Thrusters right now, but I knew Coach would have something equally as painful for me to do. I wasn’t sure though, if I was going to have the energy to be AWAKE to workout. Well thanks to the Chick-fil-A bowl and my beloved AGGIES making it an exciting game, I was pretty awake. Two of my three kids were home. And one of them wanted to participate with me. So we loaded up and off we went.

After we all warmed up we split into two groups, the 2013 Fran and the 2014 Fran. I decided to make Fran my first workout of the year and I let my son, Justice, do the 2013 workout. I was so proud of my monkey. He is athletic and he is tough but he’s never really done a WOD at the box for time. And he’s for sure never done Fran. Coach gave him a 15lb bar and off he went. And I didn’t let him slack. I NO REPPED him on some Thrusters and several Pull Ups. He eventually had to move to bands to finish out the Pull Ups. Time: 7:18

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Then it was my turn, womp womp. I was tasked with Front Squats and Pushups instead of Thrusters. The break down was 7 Squats, 7 Push Ups with fists x 3, 21 Pull Ups, 5 Squats, 5 Push Ups x 3, 15 Pull Ups, 5 Squats, 5 Push Ups, 4 Squats, 4 Push Ups, 9 Pull Ups. This was a beating. A pure beating. And I went from 1 green band and 1 blue band, to 2 green bands, 1 blue band. It was terrible. But I did the work. I haven’t actually done Fran in probably over a year and it was modified. I’m pretty sure I had completed this benchmark in the 8 minute range. For this year it was a slow 10:43! This is another WOD I need to retest in the future.

Looking forward.
And there you have it. I did start of the NEW YEAR strong. And starting Monday I plan to start eating CLEAN!

I have all the resources I need at my fingertips. Now I just need the mental aspect to stay focused. This is a year of Looking Forward, Planning Ahead and Staying Focused. I’m also replacing AWESOME with something else. I think I’ve awesomed myself out and probably all of you as well! Any suggestions on a new WORD/PHRASE for the year?

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I’m done with the COLD already

And it’s only just begun! I know it’s only the second morning with temps in the 30s but it makes it really hard to get out of bed! And it makes it really hard to want to go hit the box early in the A.M.!

Skill/Strength: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 Back Squat
The goal was to start heavy and work towards a PR. If any of you recall I had an “accidental” PR with my squat cause I’m a dingleberry who used her DEADLIFT max to base her SQUAT %! Who does that? Yup that’s right – me :/ So I got a 10lb PR at 155lbs. This morning I set up my attempts so that 150lbs was my 3rd squat. That was fine so I decided to go for 160lbs on my 4th rep. FAIL-EO! I still felt like I had it in me so I went for my 5th rep at 160lbs again. Coach had to give me like an ounce of support for me to get up. I know I can do it without that but today it didn’t happen! Finally I’m making gains, and I LIKE IT!

11/13/12 WOD

MetCon: FRAN (collective sigh, grunt, etc.)
If you have no clue about CrossFit then you don’t know how brutal FRAN can be! FRAN is a dirty girl workout and a well known benchmark for CrossFitters all over. It’s 21-15-9 of Thrusters and Pullups. And it’s a go balls to the wall kind of workout! The really great folks have this workout COMPLETED in the 2 minute range. I don’t even think I can DREAM of such achievements anytime soon. For me it’s band assisted pull ups that I STILL suck at and typically I can do the RX 65lb Thruster but I’m still having shoulder issues so I was given 15lb dumbbells. I was able to do all the Thrusters unbroken, if it were otherwise then I think something would seriously be wrong with me. Unfortunately I was not able to do Pull Ups unbroken, those are miserable and the BAR was FREEZING! Time: 7:50

It’s a REST DAY tomorrow. I’m hoping I can catch up on some cooking/cleaning that needs to get done. I know I’ve been slacking at the posts but we’ve been so busy and I don’t have any wonderful INSPIRATION or RECIPES for you at the moment. And I feel I can only tell everyone to SUCK IT UP, TOUGHEN UP and DO SOMETHING GOOD for YOURSELF like EATING CLEAN and LIFTING HEAVY SHIT before you all run away cause you are sick and tired of those kinds of posts. At this point I wish I could just hibernate till Spring! Until Thursday…. BE AWESOME!

Monday and so much to Talk about!

Here in our little world it’s the first day of school! Yippee and Boohooo. It’s great for the kids to see all their friends and get back into a routine and it’s sad because they are growing up soooo fast! It’s part of it, I know, but sad.

And it’s also back on track for eating clean. Last week I declared it was take a break week and that is what I did. I ate clean most of the time during the week but the dinners and the weekend weren’t the best. But I figure I can give myself that little bit. So I’m back at it and with that said so are the kids. They all asked to pack Paleo lunches instead of buying the cafeteria lunch. I’m really proud of them to make such decisions. I should of course taken pics but I forget to do these things. They took hearty salads and yummy fruit bowls. Maybe tomorrow I’ll snap some pics!

Boom Box
I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. But I knew FRAN was waiting for me at the box and I wasn’t ready for her. I had a week of eating like crap. I haven’t done Fran since January and I’m a big ol baby so ya, I wasn’t ready! I did a few warm up thrusters and that felt fine. Adding the weight was a little much for my right shoulder though. It’s just tender and achy and I decided I would go ahead with the 65lbs. Before I go further let me tell you about FRAN. It’s 21-15-9 of Thrusters and Pull Ups as fast as you can do it. So you do 21 thrusters, 21 pullups, 15 thrusters, 15 pullups, 9 thrusters and 9 pullups. Coach told us we should do 15 unbroken in the first round of thrusters. I managed to do this! Woohooo. I wasn’t sure if I would make it to 15 but I did and then the 6 after that weren’t so bad. Pull ups on the other hand were a pain in the ass. I struggled BAD. Got back to thrusters and did 7 and 8, they weren’t the prettiest but I got the job done. The 15 pull ups got super ugly. I was only managing one at a time. The shoulder was fatigued and I am a baby. Got through my 9 thrusters much better than the 15 rep round. I guess I got more rest in the pull ups. And of course I struggled even more with last round of pull ups. Time 9:48. Those darn pull ups. Argh. I did however PR. I’m not super proud of it because I know I should be better at pull ups by now 😦 But back on New Year’s Day I finished in 10:30. At least I’m getting better and not worse!

8/27/12 WOD

Saturday Community WOD
We had a straight up beat down at our Saturday Fun Day! It was a team WOD of 75 OHS (med ball), 400m run, 150 burpee box jumps, 400m run, 250 push ups, 400m runn, 300 sit ups. We had a good team strategy by breaking everything up into smaller sets per person. Our biggest struggle was the run. I am sad to say that I am one of the weaker links when it comes to running. We had to wait for the whole team to finish the run before we could start the next movements. Our team did really well and we pushed through to the end. We finished around 23 minutes and finished first! Woohooo. It was definitely work!

Oly Class
Class was all about the Split Jerk. Good thing it was from the rack because I was not ready for any type of Cleans after the hell I went through on Friday. I felt pretty good in regards to form and technique. I have some issues with locking my hips but overall I felt good about it. I worked up to 105lbs and failed at 115lbs. I believe I could get 115 but I think with being smoked from the 9am WOD and then working in the Oly class it was plain and simple I had nothing left to give. I’m glad I am putting in the time to the Oly class. Every bit helps!

Beautiful Blogger Award
I don’t get many awards but this weekend I was given a Beautiful Blogger Award by Andy over at Our Life in 3D! Thank you Andy. It is really nice to be acknowledged for my little blog. I mean after all, being told your AWESOME always makes you feel good! He received the same award because he too is a beautiful blogger! He shares his precious daughters with us and adventures of being a Dad. He also shares fun bits of randomness that we all can enjoy whether you’re a parent or not.

With this award I was given some things to do: A) Write ten interesting things about myself, B) Nominate other bloggers who I feel deserve this award, C) Let them know about the nomination!

A) First of all I don’t think I have 10 interesting things to tell you about myself. But I’ll try.
1. You all know this but I’m a mom of 3 boys. That in itself leads to an interesting life and lots of stories.

2. I once owned about a dozen snakes and about a dozen lizards. This was all before kids and it was a big daily chore to tend to all the critters.

3. I have raced in on 2 motocross races. One for a Mother’s day fun race and one that I actually entered like a ding dong head on a Yamaha 250. I didn’t come in last so that made me feel a little better but I was at the bottom. I’m glad I did it though.

4. I used to work at Starbucks and it’s been the best job I have ever had EVER and if I could make more money being a Barista I sooo would do that for a living.

5. I had my own Graphic Design business, more of a freelance thing but I did a handful of jobs before my marriage fell apart. If only I had given it more time then maybe I’d still be doing my own thing. Hard to do though when you are trying to start over in life with 2 kids and one on the way.

6. I dream of taking my kiddos to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro. I saw an IMAX movie about it and saw that it’s a feasible hike for inexperienced hikers and for all ages.

That’s all I can come up with. I’m sure I have more interesting things about me but I don’t know what they are! Now for the folks I keep tabs on and you should too:

Wine to Weightlifting: It’s all about getting stronger with Jennifer. She’s taken on weightlifting and she loves it. She works hard, takes on different programs and kills them.

The Sexi Flexi: This girl probably has got this award more than once. And deservedly so… she shares her food porn, her adventures in life and work and her personal side as well. She’s embraces life and it shows.

CutlFit: I’m sure this blog has this as well but it’s all about sharing here and I check in daily, multiple times a day! It’s all about living life with CultFit. Enjoying it, laughing at it and taking time for the small stuff.

Whatup Chickenbutt: Check this chica out. She’s funny, sarcastic, honest and will tell you how it is! She shares her obsession with lifting heavy shit and proves that you won’t turn all “manly” with weightlifting. She leads a BUSY life and still manages to find the time to get strong.

CjackPlay: If you want food, fitness and fashion then head on over to this blog. She shares her results, recipes and fun hair, makeup, etc tips. Unlike me, you can be girly!

Check all these bloggers out. Tell them I said HI and follow them religiously like I do.

That’s Monday folks! Enjoy it and Be AWESOME!!!

Just read their shirts… They too live in AWESOMENESS!