Ch-Ch-Changes

Hello and welcome to the first day of March! 2013 is flying by and all the while it feels like it’s only begun. If you’re my friend, acquaintance, etc. outside of this blog then you probably are seeing me expanding the activity of my blog. With some nudging and encouragement from Jennifer over at Wine To Weightlifting (please show her some love!), I have decided to give my blog a Facebook, Twitter, and drop the .wordpress.com. I’m now just idrankthecfkoolaid.com! Wooooo. You can also email me with any questions or comments at idrankthecfkoolaid@gmail.com.

With all the shift, I am definitely trying to be a little more proactive and adventurous with IDTCFK! Let’s hope I do follow through and make that effort! I don’t imagine it to be a fast moving adventure but in case things get slow or out of control I ask that you just bare with me 🙂

And don’t forget I have AWESOME socks for sale. I don’t have a major plan ahead, just kind of going with the flow. If I get rolling then expect more socks and maybe shirts coming your way. Of course I’ll keep you posted! I can do PayPal or Chase Quick Pay.

Now I return you to the regularly scheduled programming. BOOM Box time! Last night was CrossFit Boom’s first Open Skills Night. Coach wanted to offer a time where we can come in and work our weaknesses. This doesn’t include barbell work but more along the line of gymnastics work. Perfect for me to work on those Pull Ups! It was a good turnout and people were working on everything from kipping technique to handstand walks. Ernie even got his first Bar Muscle Up! Woohooo!

As for me I made some great progress on that kipping Pull Up. After months of only doing strict pull ups with the band, I was encouraged to use the band and work on kipping at the same time. This helped a whole lot and I went from a combination of the green and blue band, to just the green, to just the blue. I was so close but after a lot of fatigue, a small hand tear and time running out it will just have to wait a little longer. I did realize though that my hands didn’t hurt as bad as they do at 5 am. Maybe because I’ve used them all day, I have no idea. But in the mornings my skin seriously hurts just hanging on the bar. Last night I had zero pain well until the callouses started screaming. But I could hang onto the bar. Strange. At least I think it is odd but ah well. It is what it is!

3/1/13 WOD
Two months in to the new year and I’m really trying to have a more positive attitude and better mindset going into my workouts. In the past week I do feel like it has helped. Duh, you say. I know. Sometimes one gets stuck in a rut and that someone happened to be me. I was feeling so defeated on so many levels but I’m getting all of that turned around.

Skill/Strength: 1 RM Power Clean (15minutes)
I say this all the time and probably will always say it. I LOVE POWER CLEANS! Something about feeling strong and awesome does a body/mind good 🙂 15 minutes flew by this morning and I didn’t hit any PRs but I am close. I was stuck at 185 for so long with Deadlifts and I feel like I’m stuck at 105lbs with Cleans. I pulled 115lbs to my chest but like a ding dong head I won’t drop under the bar. Just drop Stephanie! Just drop! Find your happy place!

3/1/13 WOD

MetCon: 1 minute of 10 Jumping Air Squats, Max Burpees, 1 minute rest X 6.
6minutes of work, 6 minutes of rest. Right off the bat I NO REPPED my Jumping Air Squat because I didn’t JUMP. Doh! For minute 1 I completed 17 burpees. The minute rest is a little deceiving to the body. You feel great, I got some rest until you hit those burpees again. I managed to pull out another 17 for minute 2 but was fading fast. For minutes 3 and 4 I did 16 burpees. I hit a wall in minute 5 and only managed to bust out 11! Seriously?!? 11. Argh. But I got 15 for the last minute. Total: 92 Burpees, 60 Jumping Air Squats

It’s FRIDAY! I hope everyone has a great weekend! Enjoy yourselves. Get outside and play that is if you aren’t snowed in or something. Us Texans are in store for a SUNNY and not warm but not cold weekend 🙂 And as always BE AWESOME.

Clean Clean Clean

Today is a much better day than two days ago. I’m not in a funk and I’m not being a crybaby so it’s a good day. Let’s hope it stays that way!

I was up and ready to go earlier than normal but even when I have extra time, I still manage to find a way to take up those extra minutes doing something else! Which of course then leaves me running out the door in a hurry to get to the BOOM Box.

Skill/Strength: 3x Max Kipping Pull ups and 3×10 Ring Dips
I no likey the Pull Ups and I can’t do them so Coach had me work on Negative Hangs. I am horrible at all things Pull Up related but I got some good hangs in and hopefully building that upper body strength. The cat in the picture above has better hangs than me though. We moved to the Ring Dips which I haven’t done in FOREVER but those are much better than Pull Ups. I did have to use a band because I’m not super beastly yet. Baby Steps!

MetCon: 3 Power Cleans As Heavy As Possible on the minute for 10 minutes. I love CLEANS! And last night ESPN2 aired the CrossFit Games 2012 Men’s Clean Ladder. It was impressive to say the least and I feel that watching them gave me some confidence back with this lift. It wasn’t too long ago that I was struggling. Below is Neal Maddox killing it at 365lbs. Clearly this isn’t a Power Clean but it’s inspiring.

So Coach suggested starting with 70% of our max and I’m pretty sure at one point I had the ugliest clean at 100lbs so I warmed my way up to 75lbs. I was feeling really good at that weight so I went up to 85lbs. And even that felt good but I wasn’t sure how that would feel halfway through. I did 2 minutes at 85lbs and Coach added 10lbs. I was like OK, I got this I’m feeling good and BAM I didn’t have it. I got mental and wasn’t trying to be at all. I actually got really pissed off. I managed to get through 1 minute with some ugly ass work but I was struggling. But I wasn’t a pissed off this is going to get done mad, I was a I wanted to cry mad because I know I can clean this weight. By the 5th minute I dropped to 90lbs and WAM BAM Thank you MA’AM I could get that weight up. Why 5 measly pounds kills me I don’t know. But I was happy to feel good at 90lbs. Baby steps!

Have a superb Thursday. And of course BE AWESOME!

Mental Battles

If you’re new to the blog I must let you know I’m a little batty when it comes to my workouts, well shoot, when it comes to anything. In my head I aspire to be a ROCK STAR in all things I do. In reality I miss the mark daily. I know most of us aspire to be more but SERIOUSLY I want to be a bad ass! And then my mind starts playing tricks on me and I let myself down. I’ll keep dreaming and faking it till I make it. One day I might be the AWESOMENESS I think I am!

Yesterday I was feeling sickly and today although I feel a little better, I still feel crappy. I did get my sorry butt outta bed though and head to the BOOM Box. I figured I’d just have to power through. Clearly I’m not ill enough to be bed ridden but I have this horrid cough and still feel achy. So I really wasn’t sure of how I would perform.

Skill/Strength: 3 RM of Power Clean
I know my 1 RM is 95lbs. And I managed to get 3 at 95lbs without too much struggle. The last rep wasn’t very pretty but I did it. So I moved up to 100lbs and well la de da de I cleaned it! PR BABY! Granted it’s only a 5lb PR but it’s going down in the books. For some I couldn’t get it up for the 2nd rep! I made 2 attempts to do 2 in a row and failed! I know I have the strength, I just don’t know where I start losing confidence in myself to finish it out. I have nothing, no reason to blame anyone but my fear (??). That’s the only thing I can attribute it too… FEAR. I still don’t know where this fear comes from but it creeps in and takes over. In lifts, in box jumps, etc. Well whatever it is, I need to find away to get through it. I suppose time and practice is the only answer. I just wish I were 21 again, maybe then I’d be a little more fearless!

8/14/12 WOD

MetCon: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 of Power Cleans (50% of 3 RM = 47.5, rounded to 45lbs) and Hand Release Push Ups. I had no idea this would fly by so quickly. Coach said sub 3 minutes and I was like NO WAY, maybe 5 minutes. Ended up being 2:18. Power Cleans with just the bar is not “hard” but it isn’t easy either. Add push ups to the equation and you have yourself a little doozy of a workout. It was me against one of our newer peeps. He’s young, strong and competitive but I beat him by 1 second! Hahahah. It’s the small victories that get me through the day ツ

Europa
I’m taking it easy this week because we do have Europa this Saturday and I don’t want to be spent. I also think that is why we had a short but sweet workout this morning. No need to kill ourselves and render ourselves useless before the big competition. I won’t bore you with every detail about Europa but I’ll kind of summarize it in case you’re interested. This weekend over 130 CrossFit teams from all over will be competing for cash money, YUP CASH MONEY! There are 2 divisions: Elite and Intermediate. The BOOM Box has one team in each division. I am far from ELITE status so we will be competing in the intermediate group. I’m even a few steps below intermediate but I have no choice. I’m in it. I say I’m below because we had already registered before the WODs were released and the first WOD that was released was going to be a pain in the ass… LITERALLY. 4 Person Team WOD of 200 backsquats. We have 5 people on our team … THANK GOODNESS… so I can sit that one out. Each person has to do 50 squats and for the ladies it’s at 135lbs! Well shit my 1RM is 145. I could barely do 5 reps the other day at 115. I’m weaksauce. But our other girl, Mel, is beast and she will kill it. The other 2 WODs involve Curtis P’s, Burpees, Push Ups, Snatch and Running. Hopefully I can go HAM and carry my load. Countdown: 4 days. I’m scared, nervous and excited. The last time I competed was back in October and I think I went to the restroom 7897987 times because I was so nervous. (TMI? Nah) I finished 25th out of 50 registered “beginners”. We’ll see how this one goes.

Body Image Issues
Will it never end? ~~Are we~~ Am I just wired to tear ~~ourselves~~ myself apart and nit pick things we I can not change? Not only am I a headcase when it comes to lifting heavy shit, I’m still a crazy person when it comes to body image. Please know I’ve come a long way.

I don’t weigh myself like a mad woman. I don’t count calories like a crazed scientist and I try to focus on my strengths and not my weaknesses. I eat clean, work hard at the box, but sometimes I just find myself staring in the mirror poking and pulling and thinking HOLY COW I’m never going to be where I would like to be. It’s always going to be a battle I just wish it wasn’t. I wish I could find some peace with myself. But I can not. We are all different, I know this and I know we all have our own issues. But it’s really hard to see past it all and appreciate me for me. It’s hard to forgive myself for letting me get out of control. Whether it being young and dumb or lazy and lazy. I have more days where I don’t fret over it than days that I go crazy bat shit over it. It’s progress but sometimes I feel like I’m back at square one. I just wanted to share that in case you were in the same boat. You’re not alone in it. I’m right there with you. Chin up! Right?!?!?

I’m hoping to get over this CRUD that is trying to make a home inside of me ASAP. I surely don’t want to be hacking up a lung on Saturday. I’ve been drinking lots of hot tea, lots of water, getting rest and eating clean. What else can I do? Ah well. Just pray A LOT that it all clears up quicklike. Have a BOOMIN Tuesday and as always be AWESOME!

UUMMMMMMM……….

It’s not that I have writer’s block this time around, but it’s been a busy weekend and I don’t even know where to start. Do I start with today and go backwards or start with Saturday and move forwards? These are the silly little chores that burden me in regards to blogging! What’s my title going to be? Witty? Dull? Straightforward. ARRGGHHH! I’m not a great writer as it is and then to add the other things, it can make one go bonkers. But at the same time it gives me peace. A creative outlet of sorts to get my thoughts straightened out and something for me to reference in my CrossFit/Paleo/whatever you want to call it journey. Also hopefully I provide some sort of “FIT”spiration to you the readers; that if someone as plain and simple as myself can muster up the energy and discipline to work hard consistently and eat clean that you can too. You just have to want it bad enough. I know I do want it!

Which leads to me to today’s WOD. I’ll summarize the weekend afterwards ツ I was dragging more than normal this morning because we were at the Ranger game till later than expected and we left before the game got exciting! They went 13 innings. Thank goodness we left though because I was spent. So spent I almost didn’t get up in time for the BOOM BOX!

7/9/12 WOD

Skill/Strength: 3 x 5 Back Squat +5lbs from previous week. Well I didn’t do Back Squat last week so I added from the week before. Today was 3 sets of 5 at 110lbs. After working up to that weight I was already done! So I struggled on my last reps. I always feel so weak when I struggle so much at a lighter weight. I shouldn’t think that way. My max is 145 and that’s 1 REP…so ya I know but geez I still feel like a weakling!

MetCon: 21, 15, 9 of Overhead Squats (OHS) and Shoulder to Overhead (Push Press for me). The prescribed weight is 65lbs but with my weak ass OHS I went with 55lbs. And it’s weak I promise. My wrists are not made for the OHS at all. And my shoulder flexibility is worthless. I was not looking forward to this at all. And I can tell you that for me it was probably one of the worst MetCons that I have endured. We broke this down into two groups, thank goodness, so we could have a counter. Thank you Martha for counting. I wouldn’t have made it otherwise.

Not me of course, but a good example of OHS.

I don’t even remember how I broke up my OHS for the first round. I think I started off strong with a good number like 10 but then fell apart and knocked them out in 2’s. My wrists were fried and I still had PUSH PRESS to go. I struggled with the first 21 BAD! By the 15’s of the OHS I tried going in 5’s but that didn’t work out so well. I definitely felt better this round and Coach was there in my face so I had a little more to prove and push through. I did the 15 PUSH PRESS UNBROKEN!!!!

Again not me but I figure not everyone knows what all these movements are and pictures always help!

I felt like super woman because my wrists were just losing life and I just blazed through those 15. Only 9 of each to go and I just didn’t know if I could get those OHS completed. I wanted to cry. I knocked out 5, then 4 and saw I was at 9:40 on the time. I tried to get the bar up and move to make it under 10 minutes but I was 5 seconds too slow. Time: 10:05 I then laid (rolled around like a loonball) outside for a good 5 minutes, chugging water, hoping not to die. Although I struggled I felt accomplished. It was tough but it was a tough I needed. I always feel a little more badass when we do MetCons like this.

Weekend Wrap Up
Started off my Saturday morning at the BOOM BOX. Besides work this place gets a lot of my time! It was paint Kettle Bells day. The last time we did this was right before Easter and they were all cute and pastel but that got old fast! So this time we were doing Patriotic KBs, for the 4th and maybe even for the Olympics. I showed up mid painting, so I just stood around, watched and took pics.

Our Patriotic KBs ツ

Triston getting his paint on!

Josh showed up with some Spray Paint skills!

Travis and Kristen trying to find some other letters that we could could “make” look like b’s and o’s for BOOM!

Grant AKA Coach preppin the KBs.

Sherry getting the letters on before the painting begins.

Once everyone else started arriving we got to warming up. We had no idea what was in store for us but it ended up being a WOD I liked. 10 min AMRAP of Power Cleans (my fave)! For this AMRAP we partnered up and were told that we would do 5 cleans each and alternate for the 10 minutes. And then we were told that 5 cleans equaled 1 REP. I was partnered with another Stephanie AKA Briggs and we were set up to do 65lb Power Cleans. I said I love POWER CLEANS but I wasn’t sure if I’d love this AMRAP. My form got sloppy every now and then but for the most part I felt good. I have some bruises on my collar bone, chin and upper thighs. I look like I’ve been brawling. Thank goodness it’s only with a barbell! Briggs and I killed it with 33 reps which in turn ended up being 165 power cleans! And I still had the OLY class afterwards!!!!

OLY Class
We worked on Clean & Jerk and Front Squats after some much needed warm up on the PVC. For the Clean & Jerks we worked at 75% of our MAX. So I worked at 70lbs. We had to do 3 x 1 and take our time. Coach took some video of my first attempt and showed me where I could improve on form. I was already spent from the week’s work and from the power cleans but I took note and corrected. It helps to watch yourself and have someone show you EXACTLY where you went wrong. Most of the time I know something is off but I can’t pinpoint it.

After our Clean & Jerks we worked on getting a Heavy Front Squat. From there we would do 80% of the weight and do 3 x 3. I ended up at 125lbs for my heavy and did my sets of 3 at 100lbs. I was so glad when that last set was done. I was starving and ready to vegge out FOREVER!!! All in all good work put in and I feel stronger and better!

In other news:
We went and saw Savages which I thought was a good movie. I hate to say GREAT because then everyone will tell me how great it wasn’t. I liked it. I like those kinds of movies though. I was entertained! Got my pre-vacay pedicure and then I was out. I was passed out before 8pm! And I slept till 8am! That was a much needed sleep!

Not gonna lie, my eating wasn’t great the past two days. I’m on vacation brain. And it’s still not just crazy out of control but I know myself and I know I’m not sticking to what I know best lately. And that’s clean eating! Two Mondays in a row now that I’ve sabotaged my weekend!!!!! I know I will try to eat clean most of the time I’m out but I also know there are some things I won’t be able to pass up. We stay pretty active on vacation so besides maybe having some post eating ickiness I should be fine in the weight department, it’s just a horrible feeling that here I am trying to be the good example and I’m failing all of us

Also if you don’t watch baseball or keep up on sports you should check out the reaction to a GINORMOUS THUNDER/LIGHTNING crash that hit at the Rangers Ballpark last night. We were there and it was insane!

So that’s all folks. It was a busy weekend and I’m hoping this week flies by! Have a reMarkable Monday!

Beat Down Friday!

First let me say, I love that you can google all sorts of random crap and in return you get some goodness to make you giggle. Hence the Ronald McDonald Beat Down pic.

This week has taken it’s toll on me. Post WOD today I was draggin butt all over the house. I had no more to give. I guess that can be a good thing. I know I did work! But it’s also a bad thing because I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep FOREVER!

Today’s Whiteboard had Power Cleans, Running and Rowing. Well not even 5 minutes into mobilizing and warming up it started POURING! Yay for no running is all I could think of cause I’m a loser like that! But who knew what other punishment would be in store… so it’s a bittersweet happiness.

I feel pretty good doing Power Cleans in MetCons, typically because it’s a reasonable weight for me. This morning it would be a 2 RM. Yowsers. I don’t have any Power Clean Maxes recorded but I have Clean & Jerked 90lbs so at least I had some idea of weight. I worked my way up to 85 fairly easy so I thought 90 would be easy. Well it wasn’t HARD but it sure wasn’t easy. I then added the baby 2 1/2 lb’ers to make it 95. I can surely lift the weight but I have some sort of mental issue with dropping under the bar. After 3 attempts I finally got mad enough to get under the 95lbs. It wasn’t pretty but I did it. I gotta work on TECHNIQUE.

MetCon: Rowing and Running
The board said 4 rounds of 250m Row and 100 yd run, 2 minute Rest between rounds. Well the rain kept us from going outside, although coach was thinking we’d run it out in the rain but it was coming down pretty hard. So we modified the run to some windsprints in the box which is, according to modified whiteboard, 50 yds. We didn’t record times on our rows or sprints, we just raced each other. I did alright and had some close races and I was certainly winded and beat down. I also noted to myself that I need to work on ROWING. Sheeshh that shit is hard. More freaking technique I gotta learn!

WEEKEND
We have a COMMUNITY WOD at the BOOM BOX. If you’re in town, near town or want to make a trip to see us, you can drop on in! Right after the group love I will partake in an Olympic lifting class that has started up there at CrossFit Boom. I hope to gain technique and confidence with this class. Last week we worked a lot with the PVC and I feel like I learned a lot. I just hope I keep feeling that way 🙂

One last thing….Happy Father’s Day to all you DADs, StepDADs, Future DADs and to any man who plays a Fatherly role to someone else’s kids. Also to those MOMs who have to play both roles all of the time, I pray you find good men to help mentor your children and if doesn’t happen I pray God gives you the strength to do both roles with ease.

A Dad is truly somebody everyone needs even if they aren’t your real DAD. I’m just sad that Father’s Day is so undervalued in general.

Alrighty then. For the rest of you… HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!! MAKE IT AWESOME!!!

Death by Power Clean on Friday the 13th!

1/13/12 WOD

It was a dreadful sight on the board but it had to be done! Grant asked us what we were thinking in regards to how far we’ll get and I just couldn’t manage a number in my head but eventually I blurted out 12. Then after I did blurt it out I mentally changed it to 13 since it’s the 13th. And to try and push past my initial blurted out goal. Getting up to the 10th round I was still feeling pretty good. Tired but good. Then the 11th round hit and dang I was zapped of all energies and I made the major mistake of dropping the bar. Boy was that the wrong thing to do! I made it through 12 rounds and got to 8 reps on the 13th attempt but Major Fail. I lost strength fast. But at 70lbs not too bad I suppose.

For those of you that don’t know what DEATH BY (Insert any movement) means I’ll explain it a little bit. You take the movement, it could be sprints, deadlifts, pushups and in our instance POWER CLEANS and do 1 for every minute that passes and add reps to match the minute. So in the first minute you do 1. Rest till minute 2 starts and then you do 2. Rest till minute 3 and do 3 reps. You do this until you can not complete the number of reps that correspond to the minute you are on. So I made it to 13 minutes but didn’t complete the 13 therefore I only count that I completed 12. Make sense? I hope so. It’s tough. You think this is easy – I GOT THIS, until you’re on your 50th rep overall and you want to DIE! Hahah, fortunately we don’t die and we push past our limits. It always feels so good to be done and to know I have done something. I am strong!

I really don’t want to talk about SNATCH BALANCE cause we are truly not friends. But I’ll say my peace and move on. Snatch is a movement that takes a lot of thought but I’m the kind of person that just needs to “DO” and not think because I’m an overthinker (legit word? eh I don’t care). So you give me a movement where you are forced to think of all the form it takes and all the little things that go into it and my brain can’t HANDLE it! I suck at SNATCH. I do not like it, it’s not a natural movement, and other people make it look so easy. Just DROP under the bar. THAT’s IT…. SIMPLE. Not for me and guess what? I made it a goal to not fear it. What a stupid stupid goal to make! I hope this year I can actually overcome it but I’m not feeling it at all. Maybe it’s just the crappy week I’ve had that brings me to despise it so much. I’m pushing my feelings all into this one lift. Sorry Snatch. One day we’ll be friends, I promise!

I am so freakin glad it’s Friday! The past couple of days have driven me bonkers! I know it’s all meaningless in the scope of life but I’m ready for change! I think subconsciously and consciously…. the impending anniversary of my mom’s death has shaken me. Last year I was pacing up and down hospital hallways with no answers. Hoping, Praying and CRYING my eyeballs out. Lost and confused. Argh, I’m still doing all of those things but for different reasons and I can’t move forward. I’m sure I can move forward but I feel stuck. I NEED CHANGE! Can I get a reset button? a reboot? a do-over? Anything? I know it has to come from within but it’d sure be nice if someone would just throw opportunity into my lap. And it would be nice if I had the foresight to know it was the opportunity that would change my life! I’m afraid that I’ve had to many things cross my path that I’ve never taken advantage of because my mind and whole self was closed to change. But NOW I want–desire CHANGE… REAL CHANGE and I feel like I’m stuck in a boat with one oar. Going in circles.

I know I’m rambling and I realize I say that I’m rambling often and always apologizing for doing it! But it’s what I do. One of my friends made a point to me that this was my therapy and it really is in a way. It’s good to get it out there even if it doesn’t make sense to anyone but me. Maybe you can relate, maybe you can’t. I’m not a super blogger with deep thoughts on politics, environment, world change… etc. I’m just an average citizen, mom, human with a computer. I’m not changing the world one post at a time. But hopefully regardless of my craziness someone is getting encouraged to keep on truckin!

Happy Friday the 13th! TRIVIA NOTE… all months that start on a Sunday will have a Friday the 13th… my 12 year old told me that. Have a good weekend 🙂

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