In case you haven’t noticed, I was MIA for the past week. For those of you who did notice, my apologies! For you new followers, HI. I’m a hot mess and you probably want to unfollow, turn around and run! Hehe. Jokes. Well it’s true I’m a hot mess but I’m just your average 30 something trying to figure out how to live healthy, stay healthy and enjoy life. I’m up, I’m down. I’m BEAST and then I suck. It’s a roller coaster around here but I keep on keepin on. Hopefully those who have stuck with me “get” me and hopefully you new folks will as well!

So back to my M.I.A. I’m pretty sure my brain/body was telling me to shut it down last week and that my friends is what I did. I seriously could not wake up on time and I was extra sleepy all week. It doesn’t help that I was eating like crap either. So I’m pretty sure I just got a 1 -2 punch to my GUT (literally), my Head and my Soul.

In my funk, I did get much needed rest and hopefully sorted through some my insane mental maze. And it’s insane indeed. I was doubting CrossFit, Paleo and pretty much everything else. As I don’t get super personal outside of workouts and eating, I’ll keep it at that but overall I was just feeling blah. Everyday that I skipped out on my Boom Box check-ins, I thought I should try to make it to an evening class. Or maybe I should just run around the neighborhood. None of those “plans” ever panned out though. And as for food, my only CLEAN meals were lunch. I guess it’s better than ZERO clean meals but bad eating is something that I can feel mentally and physically and it sucks you in like quicksand! You know it’s bad, you know you aren’t feeling at your best but there you are eating the crap like it’s the best thing ever!

3/28/2013 SKILLS SESSION
Although I was still feeling bleh and wasn’t too keen on going to the Skills Class at the Boom Box on Thursday evening, I still showed up. The much anticipated CrossFit Games Open WOD 13.4 was announced on Wednesday and it had Toes to Bar. UGH. My enemy. I figured I need to absorb all I could so that I could become a TTB master. Once upon a time back in my “lighter” days and not so beat down days, I could string a few together. Lately I’ve barely been able to do 1 rep much less MULTIPLES. And I missed a whole week of WODs where TTB were integrated, Coach must see into the future. I didn’t leave the skills session with TTB as my superpower but I was feeling ok that I would survive 13.4 in the morning.

3/29/13 WOD

Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:
95 pound Clean and jerk, 3 reps
3 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 6 reps
6 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 9 reps
9 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 12 reps
12 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 15 reps
15 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 18 reps
18 Toes-to-bar…

A week off, little practice on TTB and there I stood at 5 a.m. ready NOT ready to go. HOLY COW was I going to survive the 7 minutes? HELL NO is all I could think!

We warmed up and got to setting up our bars. 95lbs wasn’t feeling heavy for my Clean & Jerks and I got a couple of Toes to Bar even though my hands were HURTING so bad. I was starting to feel a little bit better and it was just about GO time.

3-2-1 GO. My brain stopped working. I had the 3 worst Clean and Jerks EVER. Even failed on my 2nd clean. I was pissed. I had just done several and felt good and now I am doing everything WRONG. I still made it through the first 3 and was ready to tackle TTB no matter how slow I went. And only ONE TTB ever showed up. Oh I’d get one foot to touch, but not my stupid left foot. I’d be an inch away from touching the bar but not ever get to the bar. Oh I was mad. I kept on trying till that dumb clock buzzed. I felt so defeated. So sad. That’s what you get, I scolded myself. That’s what you get for being lazy and eating junk. Way to GO with your 4 reps. Are you serious??!!?? UGH I was not happy. But there wasn’t much more I could do.

I stuck around and watched everyone kill it for the 6 a.m. class and boy was that fun. After all my self hate, it was nice to turn it around and cheer on everyone else. Still not happy with myself but I had to get over that. Later in the day, we went to watch the evening classes and witnessed more awesomeness come out of folks. And then the bug of wanting a do-over started creeping in my head. It was just a thought as it was for 13.3 and I left it at that.

3/30/13 WOD
I have missed a couple of Saturday WODs already and was determined to not miss another one. Plus I couldn’t just show up on Friday for one workout for the week. I was glad when I showed up and then I was convinced that Coach was trying to kill us when it came down to the MetCon.

Skill/Strength: Front Squats: 1X5 @ 80%, 2X3 @ 85%, 3X1 @ 90% – rest 1:00-2:00 between setsIt’s been a while since I have worked on Front Squats so I wasn’t feeling confident with my weights going in. Even though my front squat isn’t super heavy, I was feeling pretty weak (1RM 135lbs). My workload ended up being 110lbs, 115lbs and 120lbs. Turns out I felt pretty good after I knocked each set down.

MetCon: 100′ Over Head lunges 45/35#, 10 Strict Press @ 60%BW, 30 Burpees, 100′ Over Head lunges 45/35#, 8 Strict Press @ 60%BW, 20 Burpees, 100′ Over Head lunges 45/35#, 6 Strict Press @ 60%BW, 10 Burpees

I pretty much laughed when I read strict press at 60% of my bodyweight! I definitely need to lose weight because my 1RM is way less than that! And I need to get stronger! But weight loss would be a better goal for now, haha. So Coach determined that I would use my 1RM – 75lbs for my strict press and somehow that sounded alright.

Little did I know that the Overhead Lunges were going to kill me and strict press was going to be damn near impossible. Keeping a 35lb plate locked out over head for 100 ft is nuts, 100 ft isn’t even that far but it was HARD. The pizza I had for dinner the night before was bogging me down. I was struggling. I got to the bar for my strict press and it was a FAIL x 5. So I took off 10lbs and finally got the bar overhead. My shoulders were SMOKED! It took me a while but I knocked out those 10 reps. And what was waiting in the wings… BURPEES. My wrists are dead, my shoulders are fried and now burpees. 30 of them! And back to lunges I went. The distance was a measured 50 ft turn around and come back for the 100 ft. I made it about 25 ft and threw the plate down. I wanted to cry it sucked so bad. Got back to the bar eventually and picked up the bar. FAIL! Holy shit are you kidding me? Picked it back up and managed to get 4. Took a break. Then got 4 more! Wooooo. But I did the 20 burpees probably the slowest ever in the world. My muscles were quitting and I still had one more round to go! I was slow on the first 50 ft of the lunges but really powered through (which was probably still slow) the last 50 ft. Back on the BAR and FAIL again. This FAIL nonsense has got to stop! Finally got 2 reps, then 2 more, then 1 more. THEN FAIL! It took me 3 attempts to get the last rep in. By then everyone else had finished so I’m the one they are staring at/cheering on. Those last 10 burpees were probably my best set just cause everyone was in my face. It sucked. Time: 20:20.

3/30/13 Part 2 – the Afternoon
Ernie was half ass debating redoing 13.4 and I had the idea that maybe I would. 3pm rolls around and Ernie is OUT, he has decided he won’t do it but he wanted to go up to the Box to watch anyone who needs to get it in at 5pm. So we go up there. I half ass hang on the bar and work on TTB but I don’t have much. I kinda sorta want to redo it but not really. But while I’m there, I might as well work on the TTB. Eventually I get a whopping 2 in a row and Coach told me to get a bar and start warming up. Nah! I’m good. Get a bar! OK I guess. So I start warming up Clean and Jerks and feel good at least with that. I probably won’t do worse than 4. So I should be fine.

It’s only 7 minutes and who cares that my body is dying from the morning! It appears that little food and extra work are the key to me being more successful (jokes) because I ended up getting through a total of 9 TTB, hahaha. That’s not amazing by any means to an AWESOME athlete but it was amazing for my chunky butt self to get those toes up there. I struggled. They didn’t come easy and I did one at a time. I had a few NO REPS in there but I got the first 3 down and thought I’m good with that. At least I got one round in. Once I finished my 6 C&J, I thought “even better”. My score is a little higher. But those 6 TTB were a big struggle for me. But I had enough time for C&J. I got through the 9 Clean and Jerks and time was up. WHEW, that was NOT easy! I can no longer say I “CAN’T” do TTB. This was a REDO that I’m proud of. Score: 27 reps.

4/1/13

I’m still a little LOT sore from the weekend. I wasn’t even sure I would be able to roll out of bed. Slowly but surely I did even though I was feeling the pain in all of my body.

Coach tried to be a little April Fool’s sneaky on us and put SURPRISE WOD on the board and then try to tell us it was 60 minutes of Burpees. I half heartedly believed it. I was still sleeping! Thank goodness it was a joke.

Skill/Strength: Squat 5,5,5+ @65,75,85%. The + is for max reps over 5.
I don’t think I’ve worked on Back Squat since I PR’d so my percentages are a little different than I’m used to seeing. And it felt heavy! Even 65% felt heavy. I was reminded how missing a week can do that to you, sigh! I’m back. I’m back! No more missing days at a time! Worked up to the 85% and got 6 reps in. Went for the 7th but bottomed out. My legs are dead from Saturday. I felt ok with my 6 reps.

MetCon: 3 rounds – 20 kbs 1.5/1 (American), 15 C2B, 10 Thrusters 115/85
Doesn’t sound like much, but I know better. That’s a lot! Especially those Chest to Bar Pull Ups.

I started off with KB Swings and those weren’t to bad to get through 20. Since I don’t have a pull up yet, I clearly don’t have a Chest to Bar, I double banded up and got to work. Being able to kip and use bands was good for my first round. I still struggled but got through the 15 faster than I thought. It was the Thrusters that would get in my head. I didn’t do the RX weight of 85lbs because warming up I felt a twinge in my lats on my right side. I didn’t want to hurt myself doing a heavier weight. So I stuck with 65lbs. Weak I know but this was supposed to be a quick workout. I broke my first round up too much: 3, 3, 2, 2. Got back to the KB and did 12 unbroken. I had to put it down before finishing. My forearms were fading fast. Got back on the bar for C2B and I could only do 2 at a time, then 1 at a time. This took forever. I knew I had to step it up for Thrusters. I managed 5 and 5. And only managed 10 and 10 for the KB swings. By the 3rd round of C2B I could only do 1 at a time. My forearms were on FIRE! When I got through that 15, I wasn’t sure how I would survive the last set of Thrusters and something in me clicked. I did those UNBROKEN!  Time: 16:42. I was spent. That workout was brutal….for me!

Well if you made it this far I applaud you. That’s a lot of recap and probably not all that exciting. But I had a lot to report on from the weekend! Hopefully I’m back and back with a vengeance, in the box and in my kitchen. Today I started off with showing up to the Boom Box, clean cooking and eating.

Got one foot in, now lets see if the other will follow and stay! It’s a mental battle I know. I just gotta suck it up and go forward. I hope all of y’all are making the steps to a healthier life. If you fallen off the radar, now’s a good time to find your way back! Have a Happy Monday! And you know the drill…BE AWESOME!!