Katie's Mindless Ramblings

Four years in the making

2011-10-01T11:12:00.000-04:00

I've been away from the blog for awhile, but here is a very POWERFUL update on how things are going. It's been four years and we're still going strong. Yay for CrossFit! A very special thanks to my dear friend Michael Koslap for creating this video. He does amazing work!

Boobs, booty shorts, and CrossFit....

2011-08-15T14:03:00.003-04:00

Coming soon!

Knee bands, sport beans, and another long run...

2011-08-15T14:03:00.001-04:00

Coming soon!

Whitten...aka, "That totally sucked!"

2011-08-15T14:00:00.002-04:00

As CrossFitters, we all know that hero wod's are intended to be longer, harder, and full of even more suck than our usual wods. But after doing this with the 0800 class, and then staying around to hang out for the 0900 class, I have to say, I heard this phrase come out of the mouth of everyone who finished this wod....."That totally sucked!"

Whitten is for all intensive purposes, one of the worst wods I have ever done. I have never come so close to completely DNF'ing a hero wod in my life. By a round and a half in, I had convinced myself that at three rounds, I was stopping. I was not going to go any further than that. I had worked a double the day before, had eaten at the wrong times, and had slept fitfully. I was not really in any place to get in a hero wod, but I needed another wod this week and honestly, it's a hero. I can't back down from that. If you've never done "Whitten" it looks like this:

5 RFT
22 KB swings 53lbs
22 box jumps 24"
400M run
22 burpees
22 wall ball 14lbs

Total time: 64:24

By the time I was at round 2, I wanted to just write it off and call it a day. Honestly, there is only one thing that made me finish this wod. I shut the clock off and said that if the guys at the MATC don't quit then I can't either. For those of you who have never been on Walter Reed's campus, the MATC is where wounded warriors learn to walk, run, row, bike, climb, and do all sorts of other things with their new arms and legs. Those guys have a lot more to complain about than I do, and for all intensive purposes, I could not in good faith quit that wod. I wanted to, lord did I ever, but I didn't. I dug in as far as I could, took it one rep at a time, and finished the wod.

I wasn't pleased with the time, but I knew that the effort I gave was all I had on that day. Now, had I done this on another day, I may have had more to give, but I didn't, so, it is what it is. It's a hero wod. It kicked my ass significantly. Rest in peace soldier. Your brothers in arms will take it from here.

"It's only 4 minutes!"

2011-08-15T13:32:00.002-04:00

Ah, but yes. Who knew 4 minutes could suck so badly? On Thursday we hit a team wod that they had done at the SuperFit competition a few weekends ago. The wod looked like this:

4 minutes
Max thrusters (rotate as needed)
4 minutes
Max C2B pull-ups
4 minutes
Max lateral burpees

For this wod, there were a few caveats. The clock never stopped, so there was no time to allow for rest or rotation. Your rest was when your partner was moving. The other caveat was the burpees. Under normal circumstances you must open your hips at the top before moving laterally over the bar for a lateral burpee. In the case of the SuperFit competition, you had to release your hands at the bottom of the burpee as in a hand release push-up but you did not have to open your hips completely at the top before you moved laterally. Both feet did need to take off at the same time though as to avoid sloppy jumping on the burpees.

Honestly, I have to say, for the second time this week I felt like a rockstar, well almost. I felt great on the thrusters, and also on the burpees. Normally burpees train wreck me, but I felt like I was flying without having to stand all the way up. The C2B pull-ups definitely slowed me down a bit. I was doing sets of 4 but felt like I should have been doing more. Since this was a partner wod, we totaled our reps at the end of the 12 minutes and Anne Marie did awesome. Together we totaled 179 reps. That was a pretty good score on the day.

Afterwards, we got to take our kettlebells for a walk. We did an 800M waiter's walk. Similar to doing farmer's walks, but all done overhead. Women's prescribed weight was 35 so Anne Marie and I went for it. It was challenging to walk 800M with a kettlebell, but with the trade off's Anne Marie and I did this in under 12 minutes. It was a good finisher. It was a pretty day outside, not too hot, and all the people who were headed to lunch were staring at us like we had lost our ever-loving minds. I like it when people think I'm crazy! :) It makes things more fun! :)

If you can squat it, FLAUNT IT!

2011-08-10T12:49:00.002-04:00

So, today was heavy backsquats X 5. We had 15 minutes to work up to a heavy set of 5 backsquats. I have to say that backsquats are not my favorite lift. I am very quad dominate, and to be honest, I don't do anything that involves hammies well. Having said that, that's precisely why I SHOULD do more deadlifts, backsquats, etc, but nonetheless, they are still not my fave.

I did feel sort of like a rockstar on my sets today though because of the sets I did, none of them really just gassed me. Normally with backsquats my last set always just leaves me feeling like, ugh. I'm dead and done. Today I really didn't feel that way when I finished. I think this may be because due to our time limit, I took larger jumps, and I did not work up bit by bit by bit. I normally only make 10 pound jumps, and I think that over the course of time, this wears me out. I think by making larger jumps, I was able to maintain and not fall apart as I finished up. My sets were as follows:

85 X 5
115 X 5
135 X 5
155 X 5
175 X 5
200 X 5

I think doing these weights as opposed to what I would normally do, which is get to about 125 and then jump by 10, really helped me hit 200 X 5. I feel like I definitely could have done more, and when we do this again, I'll probably jump to 155 from 115 and then try to go higher. The sets felt good though so that was definitely a positive thing.

After the backsquats, we had a conditioning wod. I did pretty well despite having just taxed my legs.
It looked like this:

4 RFT
15 DB thrusters 25lbs
12 KB swings 45 lbs
200 M run

Time for this was 12:45. The inside stuff felt great. The humidity outside for the run sucked the life out of me. I feel like this would have been faster had the day been a bit cooler, but then, isn't that always the case? Either way, it was a good day to WOD.

Just 2:30 more...

2011-08-08T14:12:00.001-04:00

For the past few weeks, I have been putting off my long runs because it has been so freakin' hot in DC that I had no desire to be anywhere that did not involve air conditioning. But yesterday, yesterday I decided it was high time I got off my butt and got a long run in. This week was the first week in a few that I've managed to get in 5 days at the box, plus a run. I have to say, I think I may have overdone things just a smidgen. I hit the box on Monday and Tuesday but had to take a rest day Wednesday so that I could be here in the house when the professional cleaners came to clean our downstairs bathroom. My former roommate decided to move out of our house and oh by the way, not clean anything.... including her shower and toilet which looked like they hadn't been cleaned in months, as evidenced by the mold. For serious. I can't make that up. Anyway, I needed to make sure that got nice and clean before our new tenant moved in, so I missed the box on Wednesday.

Thursday we hit a partner hero wod which was Coe. Each person did 5 rounds of 10 thrusters and 10 ring push-ups, and runs were added before and after, just for some extra added fun. On Friday, it was First Friday, and we got to choose our hero, girl, or benchmark wod. I chose to do Annie because I wasn't really feeling in the mood to throw any heavy weight around.... there's a reason for that which I'll get to later, but yes, that is very out of character for me.... I have not yet "mastered" double unders per say, but I have been noticing some improvement in them, so I thought this would be a good time to get some work in. For example, I am now able to string together 15 double unders as opposed to 2. I call that improvement....

Saturdays, in preparation for Fight Gone Bad, we have been doing hero wods. This week's wod was Badger, which despite feeling like utter and complete crap, I managed to PR on. Now granted, that may also be because I haven't done Badger in over a year, but I came in on Badger in 37:30. I think that I can actually do this faster, but my runs were VERY slow. The humidity on Saturday morning was AWFUL. I really felt like I couldn't breathe outside at all.... but regardless, a PR it was.....

So if you're clocking, that's 2 heros and a girl wod before deciding in the heat and humidity that it would be a GREAT idea to go for a run. Initially I was thinking 45 minutes. Laugh if you want, but for me, that is a long run. For as much as I hate running, 45 minutes seems like eternity. You may be wondering why then, if I hate running so much I signed up for a half marathon. Well, two months later I'm still trying to figure that out as well.....

Anyhoo, I went with the intention of running about 45 minutes. Since I run for time and not distance, I am always keeping a keen eye on my watch. Well, when I got to 20 minutes out, I told myself just to run for 2 1/2 more minutes. Well, when I looked down and 22:30 had gone by, I said, eh what the heck. I may as well just run for 25:00 out and then that will be a 50 minute run. Well, then I got to 25:00 minutes out and said, eh, just run for 2 1/2 more minutes. When I got to 27:30, I said, well I've come this far, I may as well just run the 30 minutes out. Well, I ran 30 minutes out, and thought, well if I run 32:30 then that will be my longest run to date, so what the heck. What's 2 1/2 more minutes? At 32:30, I decided, well heck, I may as well just run 35 minutes out and turn around, which is precisely what I wound up doing.

There were a few, um, FLAWS, however, with this series of events. 1) I was only planning on being out for 40-45 mintues, so I took no water. It was 80 degrees with 90%+ humidity when I started. Oops... 2) For the half, I want to start experimenting with sport beans and see if they help me maintain my energy. Since I was only planning on being out for 40-45 minutes, I didn't take any with me. 3) Again, since I was only planning on being out for 40-45 minutes, I didn't take anything in case of knee pain. My knees gave me some serious throb right around 1.05:00 in.

Now, despite the stupidity of this run (yes it was dumb because of the lack of water factor) I am proud of myself. An hour and ten minute run is nothing to sneeze at. I challenge you to do anything for an hour and ten minutes without stopping and see how great you feel. Despite the heat and the humidity, I got it in and got it done. Now, it was not super fast, but there is still time for fast. Fast I can build up to for the next two months. Right now, maintaining a pace and keeping my body from falling apart is key before the Baltimore half. So, that just 2 1/2 minute more mentality really paid off. Just next time you find yourself questioning whether or not you can finish a wod/keep running/or in general just keep going, just think of me and tell yourself to do it for 2 1/2 minutes. It's only 2 1/2 more minutes.

Turning heartbreak into motivation...

2011-08-06T15:42:00.000-04:00

If you were following along with the Fight Gone Bad voting, you may have noticed at the close of the voting that Operation Ward 57 was in first place. You may have also noticed however, I did not write a huge celebratory blog. I'm sure you also noticed that that's because we did not win. When they closed the voting, we were stoked! We were excited, and we were ready to celebrate and figure out what exactly we could do with such a huge donation. The website had said that the winner would be announced on Monday. I realized that after nominating us, I had never given them any contact information for the organization. I emailed SportsGrants and gave them the information I assumed they would need. Then Monday came.

No announcement was made. We sat on pins and needles. Then around 3pm EST, I got the email that nearly crushed my soul. Sportsgrants had made the decision to disqualify us from the nomination. The explanation we received was that, essentially, people had double voted. Due to a loophole in the system they set up, it was possible to a) use your Facebook to vote, then go register and use an email, and also b) register multiple emails. They had indicated to us that on our behalf, multiple users had voted multiple times giving us an unfair advantage. At no point did the organization itself encourage the double voting, but nonetheless things did not go well for us.

Needless to say, I was heartbroken. Our organization has lost online voting contests so many times because someone has set up a bot to continue voting, or do something that simply decimates us in the final stages. We really felt good about this contest. To find out the decision of Sportsgrants in the final hours was devestating. I was so excited about possibly having our organization be the nominated one that I didn't stop to consider how I would feel if we didn't win. I felt like I was a balloon that someone had let all of the air out of. My initial reaction was screw Fight Gone Bad. I don't want to do it. I don't want to do anything that is associated with Sportsgrants or the people that did win.

However, after the tragedy that took place today, I realize that regardless of my feelings towards Sportsgrants and the group that did get what I will always view as "our" money, there are now 31 families that are in need of our support. Not only does Fight Gone Bad support the nominated charity, but it's also going towards The Special Operators Foundation which supports the families of fallen special operators. In light of the tragedy that took place this morning, I'm putting aside my temper tantrum regarding the voting, and officially beginning my fundraising for Fight Gone Bad. In addition to the Special Operators Foundation, Fight Gone Bad will also support CrossFit Kids, specifically with regards to water safety. It will also go to support Camp Patriot, which is a small non-profit based in Montana that has a mission to support wounded veterans through outdoor recreation.

This has not been an easy pill to swallow, and I'm not sure it ever will be. I feel like Sportsgrants blamed us for the fact that a loophole existed. I don't quite get that. Regardless though, life goes on. I'm not going to stop doing what I do just because Sportsgrants doesn't want to support it. I have been told more times in the past 3 weeks than I can count, how awesome it is that Operation Ward 57 does what it does. We have continued to touch people and change lives, and we have continued to be changed by the people we meet. Someone recently wrote on my Facebook wall that I'm an angel for doing what I'm doing. I don't think that at all. I think I'm just a normal person, but even normal people can do good things.

Although we may not have won Fight Gone Bad, our organization is a winner in a lot of people's books. Recently, Dominion Power based in VA donated $1,000 to support our work. UNFI from Washington also donated $3,000 to our organization so that we can continue to do what we do. Speakeasy, a great t-shirt company, has agreed to donate 15% of every M16 T-shirt purchase to Operation Ward 57. Rock the Dock Pub and Grill has worked very closely with Brittney Hamilton, our Executive Director, to organize and host "Rock and Rally for the Troops" in Tacoma, Washington. Countless new likes and supporters have come to our Facebook page, and when it comes to selflessness, there is no greater example than that of Charles Trentelmen. A dear friend of one of our patients, Charles is a columnist for the Standard-Examiner in Utah. In a recent article, Charles encouraged readers to donate directly to Operation Ward 57 so that we can continue to support our wounded soldiers. His article at last update had raised over $5,000 for our organization. It may not rival the funds from Fight Gone Bad, but the support we have been shown over the past few weeks has been phoenomenal. This support is support that will not exist for just a one time event either. These organizations and people have continued to help make others aware of our organization and the work that we do. These people have been angels in themselves.

Although it won't be going to Operation Ward 57, please follow my link below and help contribute to my Fight Gone Bad 6 Fundraising page. It will mean so much to the families and soldiers who will receive these funds.

Fight Gone Bad 6- Give to those who gave their all.

What does Fight Gone Bad REALLY mean?

2011-07-15T11:16:00.005-04:00

Four years ago, whenever I told someone I was a CrossFitter they would look at me as if I had sprouted a third head and wonder what in the crap I was talking about. Back then, CrossFit was still an underground movement. Now, when I tell people that I'm a CrossFitter they STILL look at me like I've sprouted a third head, but that's just because they can't believe that I do what I do. CrossFit is a functional fitness program. It is not a Gold's Gym, it is not your Washington Sports Club. It is an organization that believes that fitness should be functional and varied. It believes in the idea of muscle confusion to keep your body in great shape. There is Olympic lifting, there is strength training, there are metcons, there are gymnastics. To me, it's a whole bunch of fun. But even better than all the fun of the workouts is the community which is created by CrossFit.

CrossFit began as a functional fitness program that was delivered by a few west coast affiliates, but predominantly through the Internet. Everything, programming and nutritional info included, was free if you followed the main site. This idea began to link together like minded fitness folks across the globe. As more and more affiliates have opened, this community has grown. There is something about enduring these wods together that forges bonds between athletes. The community has had its growing pains of course, as CF has gotten bigger, but it has always been just that; a community.

Each year, this community shows just how strong it is when it bands together to put on the Fight Gone Bad Fundraiser. Six years ago, this began as just a small fundraiser raising a few thousand dollars. In the past three years however, this fundraiser has grown to cross the million dollar mark. With the advent of the online donation system and social media, CrossFitters participating in the fundraiser have been able to share their cause with family, friends, and businesses.

But what does it all really MEAN? It means that once the Fight Gone Bad registration opens, affiliates can sign up to participate in the event. From that moment on, their goal is to raise money for the charities specified for the year's events. Perhaps because of the LARGE number of law enforcement and military members in the CrossFit community, Wounded Warrior Project was a designated beneficiary for many year. Livestrong and also the CrossFit Foundation were also recipients last year. For whatever reason, CrossFit decided this year to drop WWP as a beneficiary and instead nominate the Special Operators Foundation, CrossFit Kids (which focuses on teaching kids to be healthy and fit at a young age) and also a wild card.

For the first time, CrossFit is allowing the community (and obviously their friends) to decide who the third recipient of the funds will be. Last year's event raised over $1.5 million for the three charities. I can think of nothing I would like more than to see Operation Ward 57 receive a portion of those funds. We are an incredibly small organization. We consist of our executive officer, our board of directors (who are mostly former nurses/staff of Ward 57) and the few volunteers who visit patients each week. We are not paid. We are strictly volunteer. So where an organization like WWP has to give some of their money for salaries etc, we do not.

But what is Fight Gone Bad you ask? Well, the fundraising continues up until the day of the Fight Gone Bad (a Saturday in September each year 9/17 this year). Fight Gone Bad itself is actually a workout. For the affiliates who have signed up, they will all complete the same workout on that day regardless of their own programming. Every CrossFitter across the globe (including Iraq and Afghanistan) who has signed on the dotted line for this event, will take to their respective boxes and suffer 17 minutes of lung burning torture for the causes. It is inspiring, it is motivating, and it's effective. The sense of comraderie and community in those boxes on that day is AMAZING. There is nothing like it in the world. The 17 minutes of lung searing pain are worth it to know that somewhere our money and our pain is helping someone else. The workout itself looks like this:

3 rounds of

1 minute armap (as many reps as possible) box jumps
1 minute amrap sumo deadlift high pulls
1 minute amrap wall balls
1 minute amrap push press
1 minute amrap (calories) row

Rest 1 minute before rounds 2 and 3

If Operation Ward 57 can get this third spot, it would be amazing. I've loaded two videos below to show just what Fight Gone Bad looks like. One is from my respective affiliate. The other is done by Sportsgrants, which is the organization that handles the fundraising efforts for this event. I've also attached our voting link. Please keep us in the fight because for the wounded, the fight never ends!

CrossFit Oldtown - 2010 Fight Gone Bad from Mike Koslap on Vimeo.

Operation Ward 57: Nominate!

Fight Gone Bad Votes!!!!

2011-07-13T19:46:00.000-04:00

Every year, CrossFit does a fundraiser called Fight Gone Bad. If you are an avid CrossFitter, you know what this is. If you are new to CrossFit, or not a CrossFitter at all, allow me to explain. It is 15 minute of pure suck. The end. So why do we do it then? We do it because it's a fundraiser and we use it to raise money for different organizations. For the past few years, the main recipient of these funds has been Wounded Warrior Project. They're a great organization, but this year CrossFit has decided to mix it up a bit. This year they are supporting the Special Operators Foundation. They are also supporting CrossFit Kids. The third donor spot however is a big question mark. Right now, they are allowing people to nominate a worthy cause. Then folks can vote for the cause that they want to receive the third slot. I nominated Operation Ward 57 as one of the possible organizations for this third slot. I know it is a long shot because let's face it, our organization is very, very small, but I had to give it a try. So, I'm putting up this post and hoping that perhaps some of my loyal followers will go to the link and vote for Operation Ward 57. It would be nice to see the money go to an organization where you KNOW it is going directly to people. Our organization is very small, and is strictly volunteer. We're not a WWP who has full time staff with salaries, etc. We put everything back into the patients on 57. When the BRAC closure occurs, we will be moving WITH the patients over to Bethesda so that we can continue to do the work we have been doing. So, if you have 3 minutes, click this link. Then click where it shows the number of votes. It will ask you to login with your Facebook ID. Then reclick that same little box and the vote number should go up by 1. That's it. That's all it takes. Please support me and this great cause. You can only vote 1 time. Voting closes on July 22. Nominations for new organizations close on the 15th. Let's at least give Leukemia/Lymphoma Society a run for their money!

Fight Gone Bad: Operation Ward 57

A week in review and Southwestern style eggs

2011-06-28T09:58:00.001-04:00

As I get back into CrossFit, I'm trying to decide what direction I'd like to take with my blog. This blog has always (mostly) been about my adventures with CrossFit. But as I'm getting back into CrossFit, my life is also going in a lot of other directions. So, I'm not sure if I'll be making daily workout posts, but at the very least, I'll be doing weekly recaps. So that way, if you'd like to steal any of the workouts I'd done and punish yourself or others with them, you can feel free. :)

Monday

WOD #1
Every minute on the minute for 10 minutes
3 challenging handstand push-ups

WOD #2
Amrap in 15 minutes
15 KB swings
15 Hand release push-ups
15 GHD
200 Meter run

Tuesday

WOD #1
AMRAP in 1 minute
Back squats 60% of 1 RM (145)

WOD #2
Ladder Up/Down Unbroken DU's
5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40
You must stop after each set

Wednesday

Rest because the back squats destroyed my legs and I could not walk correctly....

Thursday

Active recovery run (see above). Should have had my run sponsored by Crock Pot. It was low and slow....

Friday

WOD #1
Sumo Deadlift
Every minute do 3 sumo deadlifts with a comfortable but challenging weight (180)

WOD #2
Amrap in 15 minutes
15 KB swings
15 Hand release push-ups
15 GHD
200 Meter run

Saturday
Partner WOD
80 Pull-ups
100 Hand-release push-ups
600 Meter farmers walk (53lb in each hand)
1200 Meter run
600 Meter farmers walk (53 in each hand)
100 Hand-release push-ups
80 Pull-ups

Sunday

Attempted to go for a run. After 8 minutes had to call it for the day. Low back was incredibly tight after the Sumo deadlifts and heavy KB swings on Friday.

Now, for my southwest style eggs.... this has become my favorite breakfast to date, so eat and enjoy!

Ingredients
Garlic, onions, green (or red) peppers, corn, eggs, salsa, guacamole

*Dice garlic, onions, and green peppers. Sautee them in a pan until cooked.
*While tasty ingredients are cooking, scramble two (or three) eggs.
*After the tasty ingredients look ready, throw in a little corn. (Don't worry, sauteed corn is actually good)
*Mix ingredients together. Then throw in the eggs... well don't really throw them... place them in the pan.
*Mix everything together until eggs are cooked.
*Remove from heat and plate.
*Top eggs with salsa and guacomole
*Enjoy!!!! :) (They're tasty! I promises! :) )

My baby steps: Staying positive and Katie's Stuffed Green Peppers

2011-06-24T09:37:00.000-04:00

After going through this incredibly topsy turvy insane year, I finally have some time to sit and be a normal human for a bit. I've decided that since I now have more time, that I'm going to begin to get back to healthy eating. I like the idea of the Zone vs. Paleo for a few reasons. One, I CANNOT be that strict with my eating. I enjoy cooking, I enjoy food, and for me, Paleo is just too much. I don't think this makes me a weak person, and I don't think it means there is anything wrong with me. I think it's just not for me. I don't have anything against it, I'm sure it is the healthiest option, but again, not my cup of tea. Two, I like the structure of the Zone. Yes it is weighing and measuring, but after you do it long enough, you can pretty much eyeball things and hit it on the nose. So for me right now I'm just aiming to eat a balance of fats, carbs, and proteins with each meal.

As I go through this obvious lifestyle change, I'm trying to keep perspective on what's prompting me to do this. I want to feel better, I want to LOOK better, and more importantly, I just want to be healthy. If my meals are not 100% spot on, I'm not going to ridicule myself and beat myself down. I'm just going to make a conscious decision to try harder for the next meal. I'm taking steps to eliminate as much pre-processed crap as possible, and honestly, I think I'm doing really well. The end goal is to be healthier.... it's not to wind up at a shrink because I've given myself food anxiety. In the past, I've gotten so caught up on, "Am I doing this right?" that I freak about food and forget that the idea is just to make better choices. For me right now, I really just need to get there first. There is always room for tweaking after the fact, but getting to the place where I make better choices is where i need to be. I've stopped drinking my Starbucks lattes in the mornings and haven't had a regular soda in almost a week. I've had some minor chocolate slips due to emotional eating, but aside from that, I think I've made a good start. I've started brewing coffee at home and have saved myself a buttload of money doing that, and have found that some of the flavored creamers are a great substitute for my lattes. Now, I know some of you will say that the creamer throws of my block count for breakfast and still has sugar... yes, yes it does. But do the math, 56g carbs from sugar in a latte, or the 12 from the cream? Yeah, see, I call that a win.

Anyway, this post wasn't originally supposed to be to rant about my eating... I actually was really excited about something I concocted the other night and wanted to share it. I don't think that as a block count it is 100% on point, but it's a great meal (in my opinion anyway). :)

To avoid the boredom that very often comes with a lifestyle change, I was trying to come up with new recipes that I could create that would taste good, but still be good for me. I thought about stuffed green peppers because I used to LOVE these as a kid, but originally nixed it because of the rice. Then I remembered a little substitute that I read about in Mark Sisson's book of Primal eating. Cauliflower rice! Ingenius! So I took the rice out of the recipe and subbed in the cauliflower rice for a totally healthy alternative. I'm still tweaking the seasoning in this recipe because the ground beef tasted a little bland to me, but other than that it was great! :)

Katie's Stuffed Green Peppers

Ingredients

6 large green Bell peppers
1 lb lean ground beef (Trader Jose makes a 96/4)
1 onion
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomotoes
1 jar spaghetti sauce
Garlic specified for your taste (I used 7 cloves... what?!?! I like, scratch that, LOVE garlic!)
1/3 head of cauliflower (enough to make roughly 1-1 1/2 cups cauliflower rice)
Cheddar or Mozarella cheese (optional)

1. Cut the cauliflower into small pieces and place in food processor. Chop until only small rice looking pieces of cauliflower remain. (This only takes about 1 minute in a food processor) Set aside.

2.  Dice onion and garlic and place in sautee pan. Lightly sautee onions and garlic. Then add ground beef.

3. Slightly brown ground beef with onions and garlic.  Then add tomatoes and roughly 1/2-3/4 cup spaghetti sauce. (add more sauce if you prefer)

4. Heat whole mixture on stove for about 1 minute. Allow flavors to combine then add reserved cauliflower.

5. Lightly fold all ingredients together.    Remove from heat.

6. Cut tops off of green peppers and remove all membranes. Place peppers upright in glass baking dish.

7. Preheat oven to 350.

8. While oven is heating, use a spoon to stuff mixture into each green pepper. If you would like, place additional spaghetti sauce in bottom of pepper prior to stuffing. This may help keep the ground beef from drying out during baking.

9. Place in oven and cook for 45 minutes or until peppers become tender. ***Optional- At 15 minutes remaining in the cooking time, spinkle cheddar or mozzarella cheese on top of each pepper.

10. Remove and serve hot. ***Optional- When serving, spoon additional sauce on top of peppers.

I thought that the ground beef was good, but lacked that UMPF! I might recommend playing with this recipe and adding some oregano or perhaps basil to give it a little extra added something.... I'm going to try this again and may make some modifications since this was only the first test run! Hope you enjoy! :)

If you make these, please let me know if they were good, and let me know if you make any modifications that I can try! :)

The Passion of the.... Katie?

2011-06-21T21:14:00.001-04:00

Over the course of the past year, I've had a lot of time to think and reflect on what is important to me. Stepping away from teaching at the end of last year was perhaps one of the best things I ever did for myself because it's given me time to evaluate what's important. It's given me time to decide what I really want, what I really need, and who I really am. What do I care about? What motivates me? What moves me? What am I truly passionate about? Don't get me wrong... the circumstances that surrounded my resignation last year sucked (IE the whole prejudice for leaving after June 1 thing). But the circumstances that unfolded as a result of stepping away, although difficult, are the best things to have ever happened to me. While in the midst of everything, I was not able to see how those things were shaping me, molding me, CHANGING me. But now, sitting a year removed from my decision, and a few days removed from my temporary position, I can honestly say that this decision was amazing. I can see how that one choice set in motion a chain of events that have pushed me to become a better person. A more honest and genuine person. This decision made me push myself as an educator. It forced me to leave my comfort zone and go beyond what I had done before. It made me evaluate who I was, what I wanted, and what truly motivated me. It made me realize what I was passionate about.

The story of the last year of my life is much like a Telenovella. For those of you who no hablo espanol (el nino is Spanish for... the nino! <---- Chris Farley, google it!) a telenovella is a Spanish soap opera. And let me tell you, those things are full of drama. If you think you've got baby mama/daddy drama, think again. Those things will put you to shame. Anyway... my life has basically been like a telenovella. But if there is one piece of advice I can offer, one thing I would love readers of my blog to take away... it's to step back. If you're not certain of your path in life, stop and figure it out. Don't keep taking turn after turn because before you know it, you'll be hopelessly lost with no chance of finding your way back. Take time away from things and figure out what makes you tick but do the things that you are PASSIONATE about.

Last year, I stepped away from teaching because the passion had died. The same thing started to happen to CrossFit. But I took time away. I evaluated, I played with things, I came, I went. I reflected. I figured out what made me tick, and what motived me to be who I was. And at the end of the day, you know what I discovered? I am truly passionate about only a handful of things. And that handful of things are the only things I've continued to do. Don't be afraid to step back and evaluate you or your life. If you're doubting your passion or desire to do something, then a break may be just what you need to sort it all out.

For a very long time, CrossFit was one of my passions. I was focused, I was driven, and wow did I really want to change myself and get to the top of the CF pyramid. I was hungry. But as time drug on, that passion started to die. It was dimmed beneath mounds of other stress and mounds of other things going on. I lost sight of my original reason for doing CrossFit. But, after stepping away at the end of last summer, and taking time away during this tumultuous year, I can honestly say, that passion is still there. I still have a hunger. I still have a desire to be healthy and be fit. I may not be able to attain the same level that I had previously, or get to a much higher level than where I am now, but I know that by slowly getting back into things at the gym, and slowly regaining my eating patterns, I will be able to continue to do CrossFit because it's my passion.

Someone told me that other day that they were forced to hide my Facebook feeds because I post too many things about the military. They said it bothered them that I seemed to always be posting something related to Operation Ward 57 or amputees or wounded soldiers. My question to that person wasn't why do you find that offensive? My reaction to that person wasn't, why can't you be supportive? My question to that person was, do you have something that you feel strongly about and support wholeheartedly? If you did, then you would understand. I'm passionate about the work I do with Operation Ward 57, and I STRONGLY feel that the wounded warriors coming back from overseas need our love and support. It saddened me that my friend couldn't support my organization and the work that we do, but it saddened me even more that my friend didn't feel that passionate enough about anything to understand my motivation. To understand WHY I make those posts, and why I'm constantly trying to get people involved. If there is one thing I have learned in the last year, it's that doing what you are passionate about will only improve the quality of your life. It will only give you a sense of fullfillment. If you do what you love, and if you do what you are passionate about, the rest will fall into place. It may take time, but it will.

So, if you find yourself at a crossroads in your life, pause and reflect. Take the time to figure out where your passion lies. You will only be happier in the end. Your passion may mirror mine, and it may not. But that's ok because this is the passion of the Katie. What is your passion?

A seat at the table...

2011-06-20T21:49:00.000-04:00

Over the past few weeks, I've been trying really hard to make sure that I get to the box, but that I'm also running as well to train for the half marathon that I'm slated to do in October. I've been doing runs for time, as opposed to distance, and for the first time yesterday worked up to a 40+ minute run. I went out way to fast, but aside from that, the run felt pretty fluid, even aside from the humidity. Let me tell you... scratch that reverse. I have TWO things to tell you. One is there is nothing so crappy as running (hence why I'm running a half marathon right?!?!). Two is, that the only way to make running WORSE is to do it in DC anytime after the temperature creeps above 60 degrees. It's like DC just KNOWS. "Oh, oh, wait a sec. Is it over 60 outside? Ok, well then, let's crank the humidity dial up to 100%! Woooo hoo!" Seriously... I swear some days I can HEAR mother nature laughing as she makes us all miserable and shower thrice daily. Dear Lord, did I really just use the word thrice in a post? Wow.... I'm impressed with myself... even moreso than usual, cause, well, I am pretty impressive.... ;)

After I made my last post I really thought that things were going to slow down enough for me to be able to get to the box three-four days a week plus get my runs in. Well, needless to say, like a lot of my masterfull plans, that didn't really happen. The end of my school year was very hectic, and with all the extra curricular stuff I had going on AFTER school, my plans again were thwarted. In some ways I'm angry at myself for not forcing it more, but in the same token, I also know that forcing it will put me right back where I was a year ago when I was hating just about everything about CrossFit. So, now school is officially DONE and now it's really time to get my life back on track and start to TRAIN. For the first time in what feels like months, I've been able to go through my house and clean and organize it, and in general, be a NORMAL human being and do what NORMAL people do every weekend. Things like laundry and grocery shopping... seriously, don't ask me when the last time I went grocery shopping was before this weekend because I really and honestly can't tell you. But if I was a betting woman, I would be willing to bet it was at least two months ago. Seriously, no joke. So, really, it's feeling good to be human for a bit.

Amongst all the good feelings though and the happiness to be getting back to the box again, I have to admit to feeling sort of like I just have a seat at the table. I'm sure you're wondering what that means, but don't fret. I'm going to explain it. (How could I possibly be so rude as to not explain?!?)

I'm sure you have someone in your family (because we all do) who you continually invite to family functions and dinners. sometimes they come, a lot of the time they don't, but regardless, You always set a place for them. Despite the fact that they haven't rsvp'd, you set one just in case they decide to come. Sometimes you wish they would because it would be great to see them, and other times you wish they wouldn't because, if they do come, you don't know what you'd talk to them about since you haven't seen them in ages. But regardless of whichever way you're feeling, you always set the place at the table.

With as crazy as my life has been these past few months, I feel like I've become that relative. CFOT has always been like a family to me. I have laughed, cried, celebrated, planned, sweat, and bled with the members of that family. But because of my schedule and what I've been going through, I feel like I now have missed a lot. I feel like because I've missed so much, I have a lot of distance from my family. I feel like I've always been invited to dinner, but just never been able to come. And now that I have the time, and I'm able to show up for dinner, people have a hard time interacting with me because they don't really know what to say.

Being away so much, I feel like I've missed out on a lot, and I feel like if I do come around, I'm sort of like that crazy relative. I may not have 8 cats and wear sweaters all the time, but I think you know what I mean. I don't think anyone really knows what to talk to me about, besides work, and I've missed so much of THEIR lives, I don't really know what to talk to them about either. I've watched them all from afar (IE Facebook) get stronger and have amazing successes. I have wished many a time that I could have been there to see it, or been there to have drinks to celebrate promotions and well wishes as people leave for new adventures, but the bottom line is that I just couldn't do it. Now that so much time has passed, when I do come to the box, I sort of feel like that relative that you just sort of look at and smile. I feel deep down that I have something to offer the family, but I'm not quite sure how to get it out. It may be my very own special brand of love, but that's what's great about a family. Everyone is unique, and everyone has their own special gifts to offer to others. I would love to continue to offer up my gifts. My problem is though that I don't know how to bridge the gap that has developed between my family and I.

Perhaps the fix is simply showing up for more family dinners, and participating in a few more family outtings. I don't know. I don't know if it's possible just to jump back into a family that's so tight knit. Perhaps it's time to really work on ditching the shy side of me that is to terrified to speak up around people. (True story believe it or not. I'm actually one of the most shy people you will ever meet. People think I'm a bitch all the time, but it's really just that I'm too scared to talk to them.) Again, I don't know. What I do know is that I enjoy my seat at the table when I have the opportunity to sit down to dinner. It's always full of fun and usually good wine. ;) So, in addition to the other things I'm working on about myself right now, it seems like this is just one more. Learning to grow is never easy, but without growth and change, my chair at the table would still just be an oak tree.

When life turns you on your head....

2011-06-06T22:14:00.000-04:00

.....Learn to do some handstand push-ups! :) I kid, I kid.... but wow! Looking at my blog I can't believe that it's been THIS long since I've put up a post! If you've been a long time follower, then you've probably figured out by now that I'm NOT like most people. First of all, most people do not have quite the fascination that I do with glitter. Second of all, most people don't randomly just invent their own words all the time, and lastly most normal people do not work NEARLY the number of jobs/hours that I do.

After jumping back into teaching in January, I really fell off the grid. Life really turned me on my head. I am not afraid to admit that I certainly was not prepared for the situation I was in, and it really affected me. My blog went by the wayside (quickly) and it wasn't long after that CrossFit also fell by the wayside. There were many weeks where I barely made it to the box, and I really was struggling to keep my head above water.

While the past several months of my life have sucked for several reasons, I will admit that I have learned a lot and am FINALLY starting to look at these past few months in a positive light as opposed to a totally negative one. While I'm not happy that this job basically destroyed my will to CrossFit, I've grown as an educator and I'm proud of myself for not giving up. Believe me, there were several times when I wanted to throw in the towel, walk out of the room, and throw up some serious dueces. But, I didn't, and I'm very proud of myself for that.

As an educator, I've always felt like I did a good job, until this year. This year I've had to learn a lot. They always say that children learn differently, but never was that so obvious as this year. I struggled to find things to keep my kids engaged, and I struggled to maintain momentum and learning in a classroom that had seen 3 teachers by mid-year. When I first took over, getting my students to sit in a seat and stop arguing with each other was next to impossible. Silence in the classroom to read or do work? What was that? And SOL's? Oh Lord... the thought of the standardized tests was enough to send me into a coma. But you know... here's the thing, I finally realized as a teacher. While tests are important, there are other lessons that are more so. Learning things like respect and responsibility are life skills. Yes, geography of the US is important, and yes, so is understanding light waves. But at the end of the day, my kids can now sit still and read and do work quietly. They can (usually) manage to get through a day without screaming at each other. They can now do a lot of things that 4 months ago they could not. That's progress. Now, that type of progress can't be measured by any standardized test. It will not show up on a report card. But this year, my kids learned lessons that are far more valuable than something they will ever learn in textbooks.

My only regret from this year is that to get these results from my kids took so much away from my own personal needs. I was simply too exhausted most days to get to CF. I was away from home too much to even think about eating well. But now, now as things are winding down, I've got a new set of goals, and a new outlook on CF. I've always been a very competitive person, but I've sort of learned to let that go. Don't get me wrong, I'm still comparing myself to everyone, but I'm keeping things in a much firmer perspective these days, and I have a goal just to stay in the box so that I can be healthy. If I'm the strongest girl on a given day, great. If not, meh... ok. I'm still there doing work. I've got a goal to keep myself in the box, but to keep those workouts positive and remember the reason I'm there.

I've also decided that it's time to set some firm goals, and I've decided to tackle one of my biggest weakenesses... RUNNING. Crazy me has signed up to run the Baltimore Half Marathon again. To help keep me motivated, I joined a free running group that meets up and runs outside of DC. It's been a great motivator, as I really do enjoy going and running with other people (even if they are way ahead of me). Knowing that I'm going to get to meet new people and still get to run keeps me motivated to go. It's also encouraged me to keep running on my own so that when they do 50 minute runs (we run for time not distance) I'll be able to stay out the full 50 minutes. Right now, I'm running for 30 minutes continuous. Roughly 1/5 of my half marathon time....

So, although life seems to have turned me on my head for much of the past sevearl months, things are again turning around. Summer will be here soon, and there will be time to adjust my eating, hit the box more, and focus a little more on me and not so much on kids. Not to mention, I'm not coaching this summer, which means I'll be down to only 1 job! :) Woooot! :)

If you're like me and it seems like life is just a really big roller coaster ride, hang in there. I know it can feel like life has just flipped you on your head, but seriously, learn to do some handstand push-ups. I don't mean that in a literal way, but more of a metaphorical one. Handstand push-ups are hard.... but spending all that time upside down trying to learn them only makes you stronger. When life hands you a ton of crap at one time and says "deal with it"... once you do, you will only come out stronger. If there is any advice I can give to people going through the things that I've been dealing with in the past year, I would just like to say, hang in there! It seems shitty a lot of the time, but there are lots of lessons to be learned from being in the trenches. Embrace the suck and let it make you stronger. In the end, it'll actually be a good thing, because you know what, in the next handstand wod that life throws at you, you will be kicking ass!

Burpee blitz and Baby Barbara...

2011-03-25T21:07:00.000-04:00

I was able to get to the box on Monday night and was thinking of just going for a run to get something in quick before I got back to my papers and school work, but Melissa talked me into doing the alt wod for the day instead which was 5 rounds for time of 20 burpees and a 400 m run. I did it, and boy did it suck. I pulled it in around 26 minutes which for me, not so bad, but I was hoping for sub 25. The first 3 rounds moved pretty fast, but boy oh boy did those burpees catch up with me. See, I don't flop my burpees the way you see a lot of people do (and they're not supposed to). I catch myself in a push-up position, do my push-up, then get up. I don't flop to make it easier. So by burpee 65 my arms were on FIRE. Good news is though that I got it in and that it was a metcon.

I then somehow managed to completely f my alarm both Tuesday AND Wednesday. I can't believe it, but I seriously did. So, I got myself into the box last night before having to be up at 3am this morning for a field trip to Virginia Tech. So, I decided last night to do Barbara, but do a baby Barbara since it was 645 and I needed to be in bed by 8. I only did 3 of the 5 rounds, but man were they smokers. Round 1 was pretty quick for me but after that initial round at 5:00, I then dropped to 6:57 and 7:00. It would have taken me way too long to get the last 2 rounds in and I never would have made it home to eat, pack, and get in bed by 8 so I cut it short. I figured it was better to get some work in than none. So, tomorrow I will hit the box again, and Sunday will have to be a run day to get a 4th day in again. I'm getting tired of this schedule, but there's not much I can do right now except keep on driving on.

I've been getting a lot of questions about why I didn't do the Open this year, and here's my genuine heartfelt response...

"Open athletes should be those who are training hard and are at a place in their lives where their level of fitness allows them to compete against the best in the section and region. I am currently not at a place where fitness and clean eating are my top priorities and I would hate to represent my affiliate when I'm not able to demonstrate the level of dedication and drive that Jerry produces in our box. I do enjoy healthy competition, however, at this time in my life it is not able to be a priority. Perhaps within the next few months I will get back to working out five days a week and be at a place where I can better represent the dedication of my coach and affiliate, however, that time is simply not now."

Period. The end.

It's Saint Patrick's Day?

2011-03-17T21:08:00.000-04:00

So, I'm not sure how I managed to do it, but about halfway through my day today, I completely and totally forgot that today was Saint Patrick's Day. I had some errands to run in Old Town tonight and for the life of me couldn't understand why I couldn't find a single parking space. Duh, Katie.... seriously, just duh.

Anyway, let's forget about my total blonde moment for a minute and move on....

This week, workout wise, has actually been a REALLY good week for me. I've worked on things that were my weaknesses BEFORE the whole taking an unintentional break thing, and despite it all, the weaknesses actually didn't feel all that bad. Double unders will blow for me no matter what I do, but even push-ups weren't all that attrocious. I was actually able to do the wods and stay close to the other people who have been working out full-time. I felt pretty good about that. Monday I got in for the heavy dose of clean and jerks and then on Tuesday I got in for a pretty craptastic metcon. Even after being away so much, I STILL don't like metcons...

Tuesday wod

100 du's cash in (4 min time limit)
5 rft
20 pull-ups
20 push-ups
20 air squats
100 du's cash out (4 min time limit)

I have to say, it took me 28 minutes and some change to do this, but mostly because I spent 8 minutes on the freakin' double unders. Seriously... that is some crazy ridiculous stuff right there... double unders are evil... 'nuff said.

Wednesday's wod was much more fun for me... oh wait, btw.... did you notice that I said Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday? That's right!!!! I did make it three days in a row!!! I can't tell you honestly the last time that that happened... trust me, it's been a hot minute. Anyhoo, Wednesday's wod was 1 rep max overhead squats!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy! I love overhead squats. In fact one might even say, I HEART them... ;)

It's been so long since I've rep maxed anything that I was a little leery about where I'd be. I was totallly STOKED to realize I was only 10 lbs off my PR! Sweet! My jumps looked as follows.

35X10
65X5
85X2
105X1
115X1
125X1
135X1
145X1
155X1
165X1 (f)
165X1

I know this seems like a lot of lifts, but since I haven't done much lifting, I was making rather conservative jumps. I also honestly felt a little cranky and kinky... not THAT kind of kinky. I mean the kind where you feel like you just can't loosen up and just be... comfortable? No, not comfortable... normal maybe... Anyway, I took a good fall on that 165X1 the first time. I went down into my squat too slow and man did I ever bust my ass. I'm not going to lie... there was no cushioning THAT blow. But the second time I went down with plenty of speed and felt good coming back up. I was totally stoked about the day as a whole.

I took a rest day today to avoid the whole 4 day in a row thing, but I'm planning on getting up early tomorrow to get my 4th day in. I'm totally stoked about my performances this week, and the fact that I am going to get in 4 days. Woot! :) This is happy Katie! :)

The "Leave Behind"... or "How to Ensure You Workout This Week"... or GET TO THE BOX!!!

2011-03-14T22:22:00.002-04:00

I had another title for this blog, but after writing it, I actually had to go back and change it... LOL. For the first time in a REALLY long time, I made it into the box on a Monday. For the past two months or so it seems like I've been on a double every single Sunday, so getting to the box Mondays has been hard. But I cut back my hours at the restaurant and so this morning I got in and got a heavy dose of clean and jerks. I really and truthfully can't complain about my performance, I mean, after all, how often have I been at the box lately? My weight lifting has been so sporadic, I really can't complain. Honest! I can still lift a load over my head, so seriously, that's great!

We hit a two wod day today with the first wod being the following.

Every minute on the minute
Hit 1 clean and jerk (go heavy and keep perfect form)
130X10 (roughly 85% of my 1RM)

The jerks on this felt solid and for the first time in a long time, I really enjoyed lifting today. My cleans were a bit off, but honestly I think it's because I wasn't squat cleaning. Normally anytime I do clean and jerks, I squat clean everything. Today I didn't have to and I think it threw me a bit. Jerry said my feet were off on the cleans. But like I said, I've been so sporadic, I really can't be unhappy with any of that.

Wod two today was Grace. Funny because I JUST did Grace a week and a half ago for first Friday. My time was atrocious that day because Jerry said that the new Grace weight is now 95 lbs. So all of my previous Grace times with 85 are now null and void. Well, crap! So today I went 95 again and beat the pants off my time from a week and a half ago. Shanimal beat me and stole my top Grace spot which doesn't make me very happy, but you know what, again, I can't be unhappy with that performance. A 3:17 Grace with 95lbs really and truly is not much to sneeze at. And honestly, I have a feeling I can get under 3:10. I wasted a good solid 5-10 seconds today because I accidentally clocked myself in the boob on one of my reps and took a few seconds to breathe again after that. Next time, I'll need to make sure that my boobs are CLEARLY out of the way. :P

Now, since I made it in today, I had to try to find a creative way to ensure that I get to the box tomorrow. I have a bad habit of going hard and then not going for two days... oops.... so today I got this master plan. So, I've now officially devised a way to TRICK yourself into having to go to the gym. (and before you start laughing, I challenge YOU to find better things to think of at 0600 in the am while you're getting ready for work.)

Ehem, anyway... my masteful plan for ensuring that you get to the box is as follows... leave something of relatively large importance so that you HAVE to go the next day. A towel or bottle of shampoo... not significant enough. Shoes, nope. Shirt, nope. Those things can all be maneuvered around. But, aha! I found one thing that you cannot do without... well if you're a girl anyway....

A HAIRDRYER!!!

I have relatively longish hair, so I NEED to have it in order to get ready for work, otherwise I look like crap and run around with wet hair. So I left (intentionally) my hairdryer in my little cubby thing so that I HAVE to get up and get to it in the AM. Now, I suppose that I COULD just wake up my roommate at 0515 and ask her for HER hairdryer, but I'm thinking that that probably wouldn't go over so well. So, now I HAVE to go workout tomorrow because I HAVE to have a hairdryer for work. I'm ensuring that I get to the box at least twice this week. Now, the only issue with this is that I know, invariably, that on a day that I don't mean to do it, like when I'm planning on taking a rest day the NEXT day, I'm going to leave my hairdryer. I know it will happen, so I'm going to have to prepare a plan for the invariable days that I f things all up. But for now, the leave behind should help me get my butt to the... wait a tic, THE LEAVE BEHIND!? Wait, dude, did I REALLY just say that?!!?! It's like CrossFit and I just had sex and I'm looking for an excuse to come back and see him again... like oh, oops, I left all my clothes at your place... guess I'll have to come back and get them.... hmmmmm... Oh, sorry CrossFit. I guess I left my hairdryer at your place... guess I'll have to come back and get it and see you again so we can make out... oh heavens... the leave behind... LMAO... Get you a leave behind and GET TO THE BOX (or the choppa!)!!

Workoutus Interruptus...

2011-03-12T13:36:00.000-05:00

This week I was super determined to get to the box 4 times. I made it Tuesday and Wednesday and was seriously well on my way to making that happen. I didn't go Thursday because I didn't get off work Wednesday until almost 1230 and needed to stay late to finish my interims at school. I wasn't super worried though becase I figured I could still go on Friday and Saturday. A friend of mine was coming in town last night, but I figured I would have time to get to the box before he got here. WRONG! He was early! I was a block from the box when he called and said he was 20 minutes away. Crap... so there went that. I figured I'd still get in today and at least get in 3 days this week. Not my 4 that I wanted, but still decent. Woke up at 9:25 with the workout at 9:30. I SET my alarm, and failed to turn it on!!!! CURSES!!!! So, this week was a severe case or workoutus interruptus. I'm going to try to get a run in tomorrow so at least I can say I did SOMETHING this weekend, but I'm super perturbed that I was so close to getting in my 4 only to have it f'ed by random things. Grrrr... there is next week, I know, but still, I'm slipping backwards at the box because I can't get in and I want to go forward..... workoutus interruptus... GRRRRR on you.

The Phoenix rising...

2011-03-10T21:28:00.000-05:00

As my classroom read aloud, I'm currently reading the first of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, The Lightening Thief. If you're a fan of Greek mythology, or if you happen to have a pre-pubescent boy, this series is amazing. But before I start to get all teacher-y and wax philosophical about the joys of reading and how fun it is to read Greek mythology, I'll attempt to get myself back on track.

See, Greek mythology in my opinion is some of the best storytelling ever done. Where else do you see so many unique and seemingly unexplicable things? I got to thinking today about Greek mythology though. Or, more specifically, about one aspect of Greek mythology. In particular, I started to think about the Phoenix in Greek mythology. According to Greek mythology, the Phoenix lived for roughly 500-1000 years. When it was certain it was going to die, it would build a nest and then the bird and nest would burst into flame. As soon as this occurred, a new Phoenix would arise from the ashes of the old. In some myths, the old ashes were encased in a new egg and taken to a city in the Egyptian civilization, in others, a new Phoenix is simply born. Regardless though, the idea is still the same... from the ashes, a new being is born.

If you've been following my blog for as long as I've been writing it.... I admire your tenacity. If you're a recent newcomer, then perhaps what I'm about to say will not make much sense at all. The nice thing about having my life on the internet is that it's literally a living diary. I can add to it and delete from it at will, and it serves as a reminder of events and things that have happened to me over the course of the past three years. As I look back, I can see the person I was, the person I grew into, and now the person I'm becoming. I can see that there was a person who was very happy and go-lucky. I can see that along the way amidst school stress, competition stress, and the stress of working multiple jobs, that person got lost. Somewhere in the last year, Katie disappeared.

As I started back to work two months ago I felt like that was a new beginning for me. I felt like I was getting a second chance to do what I wanted to do. A chance to fix things that I couldn't fix a year ago. But as I got ino that position, I realized I still wasn't happy. Something still wasn't right. I had a boyfriend, I was making ok money, things at the side job were going well, but I still wasn't happy. As things with my boyfriend ended and the stress at school mounted due to upcoming SOL's, I had a sort of realization. I realized that nothing was going to change unless I forced it to.

Sort of like the Phoenix realizing that it was time to die, so did I. Because of work, I've been putting off everything, including living my own life. People always say that you should do everything in moderation. For me, that never seemed to be the case and it seemed like with me, everything was always all or nothing. So, like the Phoenix, I've decided to die.

I've made it a point to leave work no later than 7:30 in the evening. I refuse to allow myself to stay until 9 or 9:30 anymore. I've spoken with my managers at my other job and have said that I will not work doubles everyday on the weekends anymore. I have made myself take breaks, I have made myself slow down. I've had dinner with a friend this week. I've read a book this week. I've bought new I-tunes, done a few loads of laundry, and have even found my way back to my blog this week. The Phoenix is rising.

I'm not sure if in the Greek myths the Phoenix ever felt like a better version of itself was being born, but I do. I enjoy being a dedicated teacher, and I enjoy being a good, reliable server. But you know what else I enjoy? Laughing, listening to music, watching movies, reading books, having dinner, a glass of wine, chocolate, blogging, and tens of other things that I've just not done in the last year or so because work has always come first. I never imagined that in my 20's I would feel so burnt out. I never imagined that I would spend 100 hours a week working. I've come to not just realize this anymore, but finally ACT on it. I need to slow down, and things need to change for the better.

The old Phoenix has burned and a new, wiser Phoenix is taking it's place. As with any newborn being there is always much to learn, and I need to be careful not to inadvertantly swing my pendulum too far the other direction. However, I'm looking forward to slowly regaining things that have been lost. I'm glad that I took this job, as I've had a lot to learn from it, but I'm even more glad that I've finally started to find peace with things. Even though I don't enjoy my current position, it's had a purpose, and the purpose was to force me to burn. To force me to rise again, stronger, more determined, and more focused on putting things in order. Is this to say that I'll never spend another late night at school ever again? No, I know I will. But it means that I find enjoyment in life again. That work is not the end all be all. It means I start blogging again, and start to find myself back in the box more than 2x a week again. It means I start living in the true sense of the word. It's scary... it's hard not to fall back into old routines, but I'm slowly getting there. I'm slowly starting to spread my wings, and like a new born bird take my first tentative flaps of my wings. I'll get there... I know I will. But believe me, I cannot wait to see the view from the sky when I begin to soar....

Once, Twice, Three times a lady...

2011-02-10T19:56:00.000-05:00

I think that's how the old song goes... is that how the old song goes? I don't know... in my old age my mind is failing me... You know, I said that jokingly in front of my students the other day... I said that in my old age my hearing was going... one of the kids in the back whispered (haha... that's funny... 11 year olds don't really whisper) that I was obviously close to 40... really??!?!? I mean, I know I look older and I am sure that the gray hairs will start to come soon with all the stress I'm under, but 40? REALLY?

Anyway... 3 seems to be my lucky number these days. I'm still having a hard time getting into the box with my work schedule, but I'm holding steady at the number three. I realize that this isn't going to make me a badass at three times a week, but I also realize it will help to maintain a certain level of fitness so that when I am able to get back in 4-5 days a week, I will start to improve again. I don't feel stellar, in fact, yesterday's wod felt awful, but I am still getting some work in and it helps me feel good about myself. After all, isn't that the point?

Yesterday's wod was sheer awfulness, so by all means, I highly encourage it at the HTFU weight if you really feel like punishing yourself. Ugh.

30 snatches for time
Every minute on the minute starting at 0:00 do XX number of pull-ups

HTFU- 95lbs and 4 C2B pull-ups
Infidel -75lbs and 4 pull-ups
Bulldog- 55 lbs and ??? pull-ups

I started out ok at HTFU but after 6 rounds I had to go to regular pull-ups. I have lost some strength by only being in 3 days a week and the extra weight I've gained is seriously impacting my pull-ups. I kept the weight at 95 lbs and let me tell you, it sucked. 95 was heavy and hard. But I did push through.... eventually. Mentally that wod almost beat me... it was rough. But I did it and felt good that I did it. Tomorrow will be day number 2 this week and hopefully Saturday will be 3. I'm aiming to keep consistant at 3... and be once, twice, three times a CFOT lady this week! WOOT! :)

In flux...

2011-01-27T12:30:00.000-05:00

So, you thought I died didn't you? Admit it, you thought that I got hit on the head with a weight and was no longer? Eh... not so much, but a few weeks after writing up my CrossFit Story: Part Tres, my life went into a full on tailspin as things shifted... AGAIN. In September, after being away from teaching for awhile, I decided that I wasn't ready to be done. I didn't want to leave teaching, but I needed to work on creating a better balance in my life and find a school where I felt supported and not attacked all the time. I started looking at potential openings and went through a lot in the fall as far as employment, and was just getting ready to start subbing with Alexandria when I got a life changing call.

I was taking a full time position, not contracted but temporary, with a 5th grade class in a local school. Of course this happened two days before Christmas and there was no time to talk to my new team or my new principal really before the break came. I was told that I was to start January 3, so everything went into hurry up mode. I had to change my schedule at the restaurant, find all my teaching things that had been shoved in corners and attics, and I needed to get ready to completely flip my life again.

Some of that was easy, other parts of it were not. I was ready to be back on a schedule, but adjusting was not as easy as I thought it'd be. I really wanted to start eating better and get back into team 0515 but it's been a challenge. It's a new district, a new school, a new grade level, and so my focus has really shifted back to work as opposed to working out. I keep missing meals because I'm working, or I'm eating horribly as I'm trying to cram meals in between school and Dogfish. I'm sure that things will calm down soon. It's already been almot a month at this job, and I've learned a lot. I know how they want things done now, so I'm finally getting used to writing lesson plans and doing things the way they want me to. So hopefully within the next few weeks, things will get even easier and I will find a way to get into the box more and have more wods to write about. For the first two-three weeks in there, it was pretty sketchy. One week I only got in one time. It was pretty bad...... but last week I was in three days, and I'm hoping to get in 3-4 days this week. Weather will play a part in that, but hopefully we'll make it through and things will be back to normal in no time. Let's cross our fingers, cause I definitely feel fat and very out of shape!!!

My CrossFit Story Part Tres: The End of the Honeymoon

2010-12-01T11:21:00.002-05:00

We've all been in relationships before in our lives. There's the initial meeting, the butterflies when they ask for your number, the aniticipation of whether or not they'll call, and the giddiness that seems to permeate everything when they finally do. There's the first date, and the subsequent follow-ups, the time where you get comfortable and you become so and so AND so and so, but with most relationships, the honeymoon almost always ends. You realize that it drives you insane when he leaves his smelly gym shorts and socks on the floor and if he leaves the seat up for you to fall in one more time, you swear you're going to kill him. And on the other end, he realizes that if you ask him one more time if the jeans make your butt look big he's going to tell what he really thinks, and that is that if you were so concerned, you shouldn't have had your latte and donut for breakfast! Ahhhh yes, the honeymoon period has come to an end.

The end of the honeymoon period leaves you wondering if you really love this person and if anyone truly ever lives happily ever after. You wonder if after the fact Snow White had a second thought and was like, dude this guy killed my stepmom, maybe he's not so much a catch. Or you find yourself wondering if perhaps Sleeping Beauty thought to herself that marrying the first guy to wake her up wasn't such a hot idea. The end of the honeymoon signals a change in a relationship. It's either time to look at the flaws and continue, or look at the flaws and run like mad for the hills.

It was inevitable I suppose that CrossFit and I would reach the end of our honeymoon stage. It took awhile, but after 3+ years our honeymoon period came to an abrupt end. Sometime not too long after CF regionals CrossFit really began to wear on me. I felt sore all the time, really sluggish during the workouts, and the wods that had been so much fun for me in the past, I wasn't finding enjoyable anymore. Without a warning (perhaps even on a Sunday morning?) the end of the honeymooon came. After all the successes that I've had with CrossFit, after everything we've been through, I just wasn't happy.

Everyone always talks about the CF success stories, myself included, but no one ever talks about what happens after the happily ever after. No one ever stops to ask Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella if they continued in marital bliss or began to cry themselves to sleep on their royal pillows, and no one ever checks back in with the CF success stories after a few more months or years. I feel like it's important then to tackle the flip side of that coin. I feel like it's important for me to share that my honeymoon stage has ended because it has changed, and continues to change how I look at CF.

Honestly, 2 years ago I thought CF was great. I was zoning, I was as lean as I think I've EVER been, healthier for sure, my weights were increasing, my progress was easy to see, and I was in sheer fitness heaven. Everyday was a great blog day, and things were happily ever after. My life was at a point where I had the time, the energy and the focus to work on eating right and improving myself. It's why I became a CF success story so to speak. But I've hit some road blocks in the past few years that for me have been hard to overcome. Life quite frankly has just had my attention on other areas besides CF. My focus has had to be on work (all of them) and trying to sort out what is going to make me happiest in life. Everyone always assumes that CF success stories go off into happily ever afters and become these badasses who just continue to grow and thrive. That hasn't happened for me. To be frank, my fitness has sort of stalled or plateued if you will.

Largely because of my job situation, and a few other personal things, my attention has been turned away from CF, and from maintaining a strict diet. Even now just being down to 1 job from 3, I'm finding it hard to carve out a set schedule (whereas in the past I had been on one) and maintain the momentum of my training and diet. It's been a hard change for me to accept, and truth be told, the mental aspect of it has been more challenging than anything. It's hard to accept that I can't do things as fast as I did, and it's hard to accept that I don't weigh as much as I did. It got to the point for me where in August I had to walk away. CF has been so wonderful for me, and yet, I was absolutely miserable in the box, hated talking to people in the box, and just felt like screaming 90% of the time. I was extremely jealous of other people's successes, frustrated with my lack of it, and had a hard time being supportive of other people. In a box like ours where it truly is a community, that's not an attitude conducive to that environment or continuing to foster it. I had to step back. I had to look at myself and get down to the nitty gritty of things.

And the nitty gritty is this, my life is not the same as it was 2 years ago. Mentally I'm not in the same place as I was then, and employement wise, I'm not in the same type of situation I was then either. Because of that, my training is not in the same place and neither is my thinking. For me, the most focused I ever was, I was hitting the box 5 days a week and then running on a 6th day to prepare for the Baltimore Half Marathon. I leaned out considerably during that time for obvious reasons. I was eating really well, and I was training a lot. Right now, I can't do that. Because of my current situation with my work and finances, my goals right now have shifted dramatically.

After walking away in August, my mindset now is different. I don't necessarily want to be the biggest badass in the county. Sure, it'd be nice, but that's not necessarily what I want. At one point, I sort of wanted to be a badass that everyone looked at and was like damn, but that took a lot of energy and focus that I just can't afford to give to CF right now. Now, what I want is to be able to continue to enjoy my workouts and in general be healthy. I may not be the fastest or the strongest right now, but that's ok, because the bottom line is that I can still DO everything. Getting in to the box and doing something is better than saying I'm not as fast or strong as I used to be so there's no point in going at all. That's just ridiculous.

My goal now is not to continue to try to be a badass. I think those days are gone for awhile, but I want to try to continue to get to the box 4 days a week, 5 if I am able, so that I can at least MAINTAIN a level of fitness. I also have had to realize that with the shift in my employment, now serving full time, I have to take it easy on my body. I need to be able to move to work. There are time constraints at work for our tables. We have certain time limitations to return with drinks, checks, appetizers etc. I need to be able to move to hit those time tables, especially when we start slammin'. If I'm too sore to hustle my ass at work, that's an issue. I want to push myself but be aware that if I'm working a double, or have just pulled three doubles in a row, this takes a toll on my body. I need to be smarter about working out and I'm learning that now. It's taking awhile but I'm learning how to adjust to all of this. I realize that it's not a perfect situation, but life doesn't always allow for perfection, and sometimes as CrossFitters, I think we need to realize that. I think that CrossFit attracts a certain type of person; a driven, competitive, and somewhat perfection oriented individual. Sometimes in our lives, life has other plans besides CF, and you know what, it's ok.

As for the eating, I'm not going to lie. It's good some days, and other days, it's horrible. Sometimes I'm worried about money, so I eat things that are less expensive, which tends to also mean less healthy. However, I look at this situation this way. I'm doing what I need to do to take care of me. This is a temporary situation. CrossFit has taught me how to eat right, and when I'm able, I will. Until I can get myself back on a schedule and manage to get that back in line, I'll make the best choices that I can within my budget constraints. I will admit that the coffee and soda have continued to be a problem, and for me it's largely a crime of opportunity. The soda machine staring me in the face 6 days a week is very different from when it was only 3-4 days when I was serving as a side job. So, again, I'm going to have to begin to make adjustments for this. I'm going to have to figure out how to walk by it and just ignore it. For me, it is my next big challenge.

Really though, the bottom line is that just because the honeymoon has ended, that doesn't mean I've fallen out of love with CF. It just means that CF and I have had to change our relationship. My focuses in the box are different but I feel ok with that. It's not going to be perfect right now. Maybe one day I can get back to being a badass, but for now, I'm trying to find ways to keep this fun and stay healthy. If you're in a place in your life where the honeymoon has ended, I hope you can find a way to push through because CF is truly a wonderful thing. But remember it's not about being the best. It's about being the best version of YOURSELF at any given moment. Your best version of you may not always be the same, but it's still important for you to be the best you can be at that time and in that moment. Just do you.

This week's wods....

2010-11-19T14:27:00.000-05:00

Tuesday:

3RM back squat with chains
18 minute time limit

65X5
85X5
105X3
125X3
145X3
155X3

Once through for time:
30 GHD, 60 jumping lunges, 90 double unders, 60 air squats, 30 KB swings (53lbs)
10:??

Wednesday:

12 minute time limit
3RM strict press
35X5
55X5
65X3
75X3
85X3
90X3
93X3

18 minute time limit
3 RDs for time "Onion Skin"
Max rep pull-ups
Max rep strict press (65)
If you do this 1 set every 3 minutes it works out well, no getting off the bar, no reracking

21/14, 20/12, 13/11

Friday:

20 minute time limit
3 RM front squat
35X5
55X5
85X3
105X3
125X3
145X3
155X3
165X1

Bottom to Bottom Tabata
:20 work :10 rest in the bottom squat position
Record lowest # of reps
11
After last bottom hold...
Run 1 mile
10:58- Cardio was not the problem here... making my legs uncramp and work after front squats and tabata was...

Slacking again...

2010-11-19T13:20:00.000-05:00

I know it's been awhile since my last posting... I know, I know and I'm sorry. Life for these past few months has been... eventful, stressful, one giant learning curve... however you want to define it, it probably has been whatever word you chose. It's been one emotional roller coaster after another. When I quit my job in June, I was at my limit with teaching and didn't think that financially or emotionally I could go back to it. I applied to lots of jobs, had some nibbles, no real bites, and as fall approached, looked at the school buses and returning teachers realizing for the first time that I wasn't one of them.

For a little while, it felt good. I wasn't stressed to the gills, I wasn't having panic attacks like I was last spring, and for awhile, I thought maybe I had made the right decision. But as fall decorations and pumpkins came, I began to realize that me without teaching just doesn't make sense. I missed it, and I felt worthless. Not having my own classroom was a kick to the crotch of epic proportions. Financially this summer had been better than I had anticipated and I began to think that if I could just go back now, things might be ok. I might be able to tone down how much I work outside of teaching and finally get on some good footing with money and maybe even actually have a solid personal life. I don't just mean dating, but I mean making honest to God connections with people. I have a handful of good friends here, but have very little time in which to see them. I was thinking about how nice it would be to be on a work schedule where I could finally do that. FINALLY get some time.

I began applying and lo and behold after about a month long fight, I got my first bites. I was honest about my leaving of my previous county, and also the prejudice that occurred because I resigned after June 1. It was June 6, but did that matter? Yes apparently it did. I was told by a principal that she really liked me and wanted to offer me a job! Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I immediately went on a spending spree replacing classroom materials and work clothes of sorts. Then reality hit, a snag with my contract. There was a moment of light when it seemed all would be worked out.... it's been two weeks of phone calls, emails, hurry up doctor's visits for TB tests, and then today struck. The carpet got yanked out from under my feet. Because of an agreement between counties that states they will not hire someone with prejudice in the contract year following the year it was received, I can't be hired. Basically, I can't get a job... at least not until next September.

Everything now seems blurry. I feel very defeated, and I feel like I'm lost again. Everyone always says that doors close and windows open and that there is a reason for everything. Agreed. When I left in June, it was an opportunity for me to figure out what I really want. I did. It was also an opportunity for me to get involved with volunteering, and that is not an experience I would ever want to give up, and even if I were teaching again, I wouldn't give up. I would adjust. But I can't help but wonder what on earth this is for. What window could possibly be opening? This door wasn't just shut in my face, it was pretty much slammed.

As the last few weeks have been ticking away, my time in the box has been... more of a therapy than a workout. I've been highly distracted by all of this, and I've done my best just to get there, which as we all know sometimes, counts. I feel like these past months have been an incredible life challenge, and I just want to get to a point where I'm ok, and I can focus on my eating and my working out again, and I don't have to focus on what I'm going to do and how I'm going to make money. Working out is still a priority for me, don't get me wrong, but it's slipped on the priority list. So if my posts are somewhat sporadic, my honest to goodness apologies. My muse is being distracted currently by life, but hopefully, hopefully we'll figure something out... and fast. Like yesterday type of fast.

My favorite new book...

2010-11-19T13:04:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a lot of reading lately... I do that sometimes. I just get on kicks where all I want to do is turn off the tv (except for NCIS and Burn Notice... MMMMMM Gibbs!) and cuddle up with a good book. They don't cuddle very well, but they're still fun to spend time with. My latest and greatest find is a book called "Badass". Imagine if you would, all the characteristics and qualities you would use to define someone as a badass. I don't mean in a CF sense, but I mean in an all out life sense. Well the author, Ben Thompson, does just that. He searches through history for the badassest of the badasses from BC to present day. The thing that I love is that he writes in a way that's very reminiscent of someone else I know... ME! It's incredibly sarcastic, full of lots of (obvious) embellishments, exagerations, imagined conversations, and general foolishness. I heart it! So if you are in the mood for an entertaining, and yet seemingly educational read as well, go pick it up. I found in the military history section. Oh and if you like his writing style... he also keeps a blog too. It's called, Badass of the Week.

Get down with the sickness...

2010-11-07T06:54:00.001-05:00

Ah, yes, indeed I have gotten down with the sickness... after writing all about how I was back on track and getting back to the box, and yee haw, my body decided now was the opportune time to get one hell of a cold. I got everything complete with completely clogged nose full 'o snot, hot/cold body temperature, sore throat, and my voice dropping an octave, which let me tell you, is AWESOME for waiting tables. :P I tried to go in for first Friday and hit some max snatches since I was just feeling sort of blah, but for obvious reasons, I just didn't have my A game that day. Still threw up 110, but just didn't have it in me to push the envelope that day. I'm feeling the most human today that I have felt in days, and am hoping that more of this crud will go away so that I can get to the box on Monday. I was buying medicine at Target yesterday and found the AWESOMEST pair of knee high socks ever, and can't WAIT to bust them out on a heavy lifting day... thehehehehehhehe... wanna see?!?!? Welllllll, ok since you asked nicely...

Oh no no... you're not imagining things... there is really faux fur on top of those bad boy Christmas socks... and you know I will not hesitate to break out some shiny shoes to go with the shine in those socks, AND the faux fur. Tehehehehehehehehe. It just makes me giggle... faux fur on a heavy lifting day. How totally anti-establishment of me. It's so not the sexy Lulu gear that all the hardcore CF'ers wear, but dude... that's what makes it so awesome. I can still lift heavy and not wear Lulu.... maybe there's something to be said for that. Perhaps the clothes do not make the man, or woman in this case? Just a thought...

Exploitation!

2010-11-03T18:13:00.000-04:00

A few of the latest exploits...

This was a video that we made because Jerry encouraged me to entere the "Beat the Team" competition being put on by Again Faster. The competition was a 2 rep max OHS. I put this up a few days before the end. I was beaten by two girls who put up 200 and then 215. Damn strong chicks.

1 RM Clean and Jerk... this is a PR for me as it's the most I've ever been able to do together. I can lift more on each separate movement but together I've always struggled.

Back in the saddle again...

2010-11-03T18:02:00.001-04:00

Ok so this picture is like two years old, but still, what a better time to use it than with THAT blog title!??! Seriously... I give myself a rousing, "Well played!". And seriously, I'm not really that heavy... that vest is REALLY poofy! (I'm not fat, I'm big boned!)

It seems like when life gets super busy, the first thing to go is my blog. That bums me out because I certainly enjoy writing, er, well RAMBLING, but sometimes you just have to cut things out, ya know? I've finally realized after a long long time, that sometimes we just can't do all the things we'd like to do. When my life gets insane, as it has been for the last month or so, I just have to put the fun stuff on hold for a smidge. I'll always come back, I heart my readers too much... not to mention, I'm like cockroaches, I just won't die!

These last few months have really been an eye opening experience for me. I left teaching and quit my job because I wasn't happy. I thought I was ready to move on, but ultimately, after a few months went by, and everyone else got to go back to school and I didn't, I realized that I really missed teaching. I really like being creative and combining things in such a way that it makes kids WANT to come to class and learn with me, and I genuinely miss that. I also miss having a sort of regular routine. Granted, when I was teaching I was working a truck load, but it was predictable. Now, I can't predict anything and taking time off means losing money, not just burning sick leave. It's a very different world living like this. So, the bottom line is that I've been spending a lot of time trying to get back into the classroom. I've made countless phone calls, send tons of emails, rewritten my resume for an education format, filled out TENS of applications but yet, nada. My leaving my county five days after their official deadline has really hurt me. The prejudice following me is hurting any chance I have and it's frustrating. I'm trying not to let it get me down, and I'm thinking that somewhere there is a principal who will understand that I'm not a bad person/teacher, but the longer this goes, the more disheartened I get. I'm going to keep at things, like I always do, I guess it's just that cockroach mentality, just don't die! But we'll see how things shape up financially over the next few months.

I'm still finding time to volunteer with Operation Ward 57, and I have to say, while not teaching certainly sucks, having the time to volunteer has been priceless. I have an even greater appreciation for our men and women in uniform now than I ever did, and it feels good to be able to somehow give back. I am working to try to actually get a wounded warrior cert brought to DC for these guys, all at the request of a patient. So, we'll see if I'm able to accomplish that for him or not, but it's nice to at least try!

As for CF... it's been a whole new experience for me since coming back from my hiatus. I still hate running, and I definitely have my days where I feel totally pootastic, like the running days, but in all, it's finally getting fun again. I'm enjoying lifting again, and even the days that I'm not lifting, I'm beginning to enjoy. That competitive part of me wishes that I was a lot faster and could keep up on metcon days, but the rationale part of me knows that right now, I'm not focused on training to be the best. I'm focused on training because I want to stay healthy. I'm not the slimmest I've ever been right now, but I'm still a solid size 8/10 and that for me I think is healthy. I wish I was about 5-10 pounds lighter, but working the way I'm working, and being around restaurant food ALL the time makes dieting a wee harder than in the past. I'm doing what I can to keep in the box and keep the weight off, and when my resolve is strong, I make good choices. When it's not, oh boy, I certainly enjoy what the restaurant has to offer. :P

All in all, life right now is ok. It's not the best, but it's not the worst either. I just need to keep hanging in there. I need to keep moving and checking and trying to find the next big thing for me. If anyone happens to be in the DC area with a few connections to principals looking for a good elementary teacher, by all means, please let me know. I'd be happy to send you my resume to pass on for me... LOL. Until that happens though, I'm going to keep hitting the box, working hard, and volunteering because it makes me feel good. I'm back in the saddle. I've got the reigns and I'm moving the horse in the right direction. We just need to get there. But what about you, are you in your saddle right now?

The definition of insanity...

2010-10-03T23:24:00.000-04:00

Ok... the definition of insanity states something like, repeating the same task over and over but expecting different results. K... so go with me here.

I walked into CFOT and was undecided about my First Friday wod. I thumbed through the heroes and girls and settled on the new wod, Coe. Now, here's the thing. I looked at Coe, said "That doesn't look too bad." and away I went.

FREEZE!

WTF?!?!? Clearly, this shows that I am insane. Because again, I looked at a wod, thought that it didn't look bad and expected a result other than GETTING MY ASS BEAT! What is WRONG with me?! Seriously, I really and truly ought to have learned by now. But alas, I don't learn. For cereal, how could I possibly be a teacher and expect kids to learn when I DON'T? This seems sort of like an oxymoron. Perhaps it's a good thing I left, eh? <----- Again, WTF? I really just used "eh" at the end of a question. This is a clear sign that I'm turning Canadian. Or was that Japanese? (I really think so!!!) Oh God, I miss the 80's. Perhaps we should bring them back. We need more leggings, oversized shirts/sweaters, and legwarmers. Wait a tick... *places body in the classic "Thinker" pose* LOL LOL LOL. Really, I have no idea what's wrong with me tonight, but I clearly have diarrhea of the keyboard... :P

So anyway, back to Coe. Shit, now I have "Turning Japanese" stuck in my head. GD. ANYWAY, Coe sucked, wanna know why? Because, when you look at it you think, or at least I thought, oh, well gee. It's only 10 reps and I can do 10 reps of anything. Yeah, no problem. Yes it's 10 rounds, but meh, it's 10 reps. I can do 10 reps of anything. DUDE 10X10=100!!! Where the F were my math skills?!?!? Clearly, wherever they were, it was NOT with me in the box, that's fer sure.

Coe
10 RFT
10 Thrusters
10 Ring push-ups
Time: 21:59

Really? REALLY? 100 thrusters and 100 ring push-ups?!?!? I HATE push-ups! What the crap is WRONG with me? But regardless, I did it, but it was almost 22 minutes of suck. It was like Fran, but worse. Can Fran get worse? Oh yes, I believe it can, and it's name is Coe. It was a whole bunch of wheezing and not wanting to move, but I did it. Will I repeat it though? N-O!

Fight Gone Bad V

2010-09-30T16:57:00.000-04:00

Another awesome video by Koz... Fight Gone Bad V at CrossFit OldTown.

CrossFit Oldtown - 2010 Fight Gone Bad from Mike Koslap on Vimeo.

Playing Catch up!

2010-09-30T06:50:00.002-04:00

Holy bananas I'm such a slacker it's ridiculous! I haven't had any new posts about wods or any rambling posts with my thoughts for awhile. Geez Louise, how terrible! There have been an assorted varitety of things in Katieland that have kept me away.... mainly that I've just been working a lot of doubles and when I get home I'm just to wiped out to do anything. So, I'm going to keep looking for a job and hope that something comes along, cause this whole working in the restaurant all the time thing is starting to wear pretty thin. Bad tippers hurt a lot worse than they used to.

But anyway... I haven't been slacking in the box though. I got in 5 days for the last two weeks and I'm already in for 3 this week... so we're slowly getting back to our old self around here. Not too easy to do, but I'm working on it. I also have a master plan for really and truly getting back in the Zone and losing some weight now. I've done it in the past where I've tried to go just straight up cold turkey and that simply does not work for me. So, my plan is to take it week by week and get a little further in this week. This week is week #1 and my goal for this week doesn't revolve around eating at all. My goal for this week is to go the whole week without soda or coffee. I feel like breaking my sugar addiction can only benefit me for one, and two, getting rid of all that extra sugar will hopefully get my body back on a cycle and allow me to start feeling better. I've felt pretty pootastic lately. I'm not going to lie. I've just felt sluggish and not myself. So we're trying to break the habit for real this time.

I know I've said all this in the past, but I've said it with a half-hearted conviction. This time, I really want to make it stick. This time, it's not just about vanity (as it's been for the past several times). This time, I feel terrible. In the past it was more about how I looked. Now, it's gotten to a point where I just FEEL gross. After this week of hopefully no soda or coffee (I'm on day 4 as of today) week #2 is going to focus on making sure I have a Zone breakfast.

Ok so million dollar question, why did I choose Zone and not Paleo when CLEARLY all the research indicates that Primal/Paleo is the best? Good question. Different strokes for different folks. I think I wrote a post about that awhile back. Basically, I need the structure of the Zone right now. I'm sure that after some time, I will start to feel better and the structure of measuring everything will chafe. At that point, I will feel confident and comfortable enough to make the change over to a Zone/Primal. For right now though, I need to work on reducing bad foods to portions and keeping things in a balance. Once I've done that, then I can take a serious look at going Primal. I am not someone who does well with cold turkey. If I'm giving up soda and coffee, I will go insane if I try to give up everything all at once. So, soda/coffee now, Zone first. Primal later.

Eating for me is a huge struggle. There are folks out there who can look at food and be like, meh. It is what it is and ignore it. I am not one of those people. I have long been an emotional eater, and I've attached a lot of feeling to food. It's going to take awhile for me to break those habits. I thought I did it once, but slowly but surely as the reigns loosened an all out crash was in store and we are right back at square 1.

So here's the plan that I have devised (smartly I think) for myself....

Week #1- No soda no coffee
Week #2- Week 1+ Zone breakfast
Week #3- Weeks 1&2 + Zone lunch
Week #4- Weeks 1-3 + Zone snacks
Week #5- Weeks 1-4 + Zone dinner
Week #6- All in

I figure this way, I have time to allow my body to adjust slowly to the changes instead of shocking it entirely. I'm drinking a lot more water now that I'm being conscious of it and I already do feel better. I just need to keep that feeling square in my mind so that I don't start craving soda and coffee. We'll see how things go for me.

So playing catch-up... here are some wod postings from the past several days....

Friday- Max Snatch-115 120(fX7) I had this over my head and just could not lock it out!!! So frustrating.
Saturday- FGB- 271 (worse than last year, I was not pleased)
Monday- Cindy- 14.66 PR! (I second guessed myself at the white board and wrote 13.66 thinking there was no way I did that many but I'm 99.9% sure that it was 14.66)
Tuesday- Max C&J- 145 PR! 155(fX5) I can clean and jerk more separately but together that was the most I've ever done. I had 155 in a VERY PRETTY squat clean and lost it about halfway up... I just couldn't lock it out. It's there though. It's there.
Wedneday- Nate- Since I don't have MU's, I modified this to work on my weaknesses. I did 8 dips and 8 pull-ups to sub for the MU's. I did the HSPU to 2 abmats and a thin floss for the dips. Dips are still a big chink for some reason as are HSPU's. Hard stuff but I did 5 rounds. Lots of dips, and lots of HSPU practice. Ouch. Shoulders are tender today! :P

Today is a rest day... 3 on and my shoulders are smoked, but I can't imagine why! :P Tomorrow is first Friday though so I'm trying to figure out what I should pick to do to myself. Last FF I chose CF Total.... what should I do this time?!?!?!

Slacking!!!

2010-09-25T06:56:00.002-04:00

With a capital SSSSSSSS!!! I am so fired! I just haven't really thought about writing up a post! What's wrong with me?!? I will write one today for sure... it's FGB day!!!

It's complicated... or maybe COMPLEX?

2010-09-15T15:01:00.000-04:00

I do make myself giggle sometimes when I write up my blog titles. I guess you could say I'm easily entertained by my crafty way of inserting our wod into my titles. Lord, I really do need a life don't I? Or maybe a hobby. Perhaps I should take up knitting. No? Ok, not so much.

Monday's wod was indeed a complex however, and I have to say for the first time in a SUPER long time, I actually enjoyed myself at CFOT. Lately working out for me has been such a rough thing, that to have it be almost fun again was good. It's funny. I read a post on the Whole 9 today where Melissa talked about being bored with CF. It's not funny that it happened to her, but it's funny that it so closely parallels what I've been going through. It's not that I don't like CF, but it does feel like I hit a plateau of sorts and it just wasn't as fun. Kind of like what I always say about my writing and letting others know people go through the same things, it was nice to see her post that. It made me realize that other people have gone through what I'm going through. So hopefully the time away has done it's job, and hopefully things will continue to get fun for me again.

As for Monday, the complex was fun. It looked a bit like this.

Add load each time until you find your max.

3 Power cleans
3 Jerks
3 Front squats

Weight- 135

Aha, but there was a caveat. Hands can't leave the bar. Nope. No can do. Must stay on there. It sucks because jerking and receiving back to the chest are hard, especially with a heavy weight for the jerks. However, I like heavy things so this was fun. Jerks felt good for the first time in a long time and although my split was a little unsteady, the jerks themselves felt good. All in all, a good day in the box.

Oh, we have a new guy in the box and he likes to make videos. :P So here's his latest work with the complex. He's putting together some great stuff. Gotta love it!

Fight Gone Bad 5! DO IT NOW!

2010-09-11T23:03:00.000-04:00

Folks, I'm posting up again about FGB V in hopes of garnering a little support for these worthy causes. Fight Gone Bad V will be supporting the Livestrong Foundation, Wounded Warrior Project, and the CrossFit Foundation. If you are a reader and you are not participating through your affiliate, please consider donating to my page. These organizations need our support and a $10 donation would be awesome! I'm hoping to raise $500 and am SOOOO close. Please click the link to go to my page and donate. I'm serious. You don't have to pledge a million dollars, but if enough people give $10 donations, I will be able to hit my goal! Think about it. It's giving up two Starbucks lattes this month.... trust me. I know.

For the love of God, DO WORK!

2010-09-11T21:57:00.000-04:00

This week.... yeah, this week sucked. I'm just gonna throw that out there. This week was all about work... and lots of it. A little of the CF variety, a LOT of the employment variety. After FF last week, I left and went into work. Since it was a Friday before a holiday, we were pretty steady all day and I wound up not leaving until the switch over to night shift happened. I came home and crashed for a bit before going to the FF party at night, but didn't stay out too late since I was a double Saturday. I had the best intentions of hitting a Saturday wod to get in 5 wods last week, but it just didn't happen. I went off to work on Saturday for my double, came home that night, went to bed, got up Sunday, did a double again, came home, went to bed, got up Monday, did a double again, went to bed, got up Tuesday and did it again before having off Wednesday. Needless to say, I wasn't too thrilled at doing "Tabata This" on Wednesday.

I'm not going to lie, it pretty much sucked. The numbers weren't ATROCIOUS but they still could have been better. I went in order, and wow, that made it worse.

Tabata This
:20 work :10 rest
8 intervals
Remain on an exercise for all 8 intervals before moving
1:00 rest in between exercises

Pull-ups- 7
Push-ups- 5
Sit-ups- 13
Squats-13
Row-2 (cals)

Ok, so two things... ok I lied. 3 things, no, wait, yes. 3. A.) I was so close to having 8 pull-ups it's ridiculous. I got 8 in all of the rounds, right up until the last one, and so of course, I had to record 7 since you only record the LOWEST number in Tabata. F' you tabata! 3.) I suck at push-ups and they destroyed my arms. I did not hit the hero wod today because my arms are still shot. I apparently need to do something about my arms since they keep getting me into trouble... ie rhabdo at sectionals... and lastly F) My rowing sucked because for the first :20 of work, I was late strapping in and only got 2 cals by the time the machine kicked on. I couldn't do any better than that no matter what, so that blew.

PS- Do you love how none of my letter or numbers were actually ordered right?! ;) I did do that on purpose... just sayin'...

So after that, I wasn't feeling frisky Thursday, so I took a rest day. I came back in on Friday just in time to do Filthy Fight Gone Bad. BTW, have I ever mentioned that I don't like anything that involves metcon? Again, just sayin'. If FGB wasn't for such a good cause, there is no way in HELL you could pay me to do it. Well, maybe you could... are you paying in chocolate? If you're paying in chocolate maybe...

So Filthy Fight Gone Bad is what it sounds like... all the fight gone bad movements in increments of 50, except the rower. So, it goes a little something like 'dis.

Cash in-500 M row
50 wall balls
50 high pulls
50 box jumps
50 push presses
Cash out-500 M row

Soooooo about that Tabata This I did Wednesday... yeah it made me sore. So trying to row, do wall balls, push presses, or high pulls was really interesting. I should have been at least a minute faster but damn it if I didn't just hurt. I know my sporadic attendance at CF is part of the reason I keep getting so sore, but I can't really combat that too much with my work schedule. I'm sort of all over the place. Regardless, I got this in in 19:13 so it was ok. Again, should have been at least a minute faster, but I did what I could, with what I had in the tank.

Today was supposed to be a hero wod, but since I have yet to recover and I had to work, I settled for a 3ish mile run. I usually run about a 10 min mile pace (slow I know) so I ran about 15 minutes out and 15 back. So I'm not 100% sure of the distance, but it's right around there. My knees were starting to ache again by the time I got back, so I ended at a good time. I know I'm not speedy, but to get the lactic out, and still get some work in, it was a good choice. I'm going to try to run again tomorrow or swim since I'm off all day, that way I at least still get 4 workouts in. Regardless, this week was full of work!!!! :P

First Friday: Pick your poison!

2010-09-06T06:48:00.001-04:00

"Every Rose has it's thorn......" Um.... not that kind.... Thank you though for giving me an opportunity to use Brett Michaels in a blog... AWESOME! :P I think I now need to douse my blog in Lysol.... what? You've seen "Rock of Love" right?!?!?! I think my blog could probably contract something just from using his pictures... some of those girls.... *shivers* Yikes... Anyway, are you surprised that I'm digressing and I haven't even actually STARTED my write up yet?!?

So yeah, it's been a busy few days here in Katieland. I've been working a lot of doubles the past few days and just haven't had time to get around to writing up my latest wod. I took a rest day on Thursday since I hit Monday-Wednesday straight, and because I knew that Friday was first Friday. CFOT hit the CF Total the day right after the 4th of July. Most agencies and businesses were closed then since the holiday fell on a Sunday, but I still had to work that day. It sort of sucked... but anyway, I'm digressing again.... I'm sure you're shocked by that. So the bottom line is that I missed the CF total.

I decided then that I should do the CF total for my First Friday wod. Every first Friday of the month we get to pick what we want to do. It's fun. I usually chose a strength wod, but not always. There were a few months where I chose Josh everytime. That might actually be my favorite wod. OHS and pull-ups! :) Again... digressing. So this month, I chose the CF Total. We've never actually done the CF Total (prior to 7/4), and I'm not sure why. I think probably because it takes so long to do (as I have now learned) but it's also really really tiring.

I love lifting heavy things and very rarely do I ever feel "tired" after lifting. My muscles may twitch or jump a little because I've definitely pushed to fatigue, but I never feel tired, like I do after a metcon. On Friday, not so much the case. I was wiped out. The CF total totally kicked my butt. And the really awesome thing about it!?!? I had to go to work right after that.... :P I know that you're probably like, big deal so what? Well considering that I'm a full time server right now until I put all the pieces of my humpty dumptied life back together, that means I get to stand on my feet, hold heavy plates and trays, and in general attempt to USE my body after these wods..... um... about that. Yeeeeeah. "I'm going to need you to come in today." Sorry, now THAT was randomness at it's finest but the "yeeeeeah" made me think of it. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about go Google "Office Space".

Anyway, the CF total..... here it is in all its awsomeness....

Back Squat- 215
Strict-90
Deadlift-265

Total-570

Ok so here's the skinny on this.... the back squat was -10 from my PR. I had 225 on the bar, and was 80% of the way up when I shifted my weight to the balls of my feet and not my heels and I was done for. I dropped back 10 lbs to 215 and got that so I would have a successful lift between 205 and 225. I was not happy that I missed the 225. I was so close that it should have come up but I leaned forward and got on my toes. I know better. Still 215 is nothing to sneeze at.

Strict press... I honestly could barely hold the bar since apparently I jacked my left hand up. No idea what I did but the nerves running between my thumb and pointer at the base of my hand... shot. I think it may be tweaked from carrying plates, honestly. Ours are really heavy duty at work, and since we don't use trays for food, we carry with hands and arms only. I think I tweaked it carrying plates, but regardless, it made it hard to grip the bar to go overhead. So 90 it was. -7 from my PR.

Deadlift.... not to shabby. After the strict and bs I was pretty tired. No lie dude. I was wiped. Not to mention, after the dl/abmat/ring dip wod last week, I'm amazed that I could DL. I dropped weight so many times that day because form was just UGLY. That was the whole reason I only got 2 wods in last week. So I'm AMAZED that I was able to deadlift what I did. It was like night and day. I stopped myself at 265. I maybe could have gone 275, but I felt my back start to round at 265 and honestly, after last week, and knowing that I had 5 days of work ahead until a day off, I really didn't want to risk it. Standing for hours on end with a sore back is no fun... just in case you ever get the urge to try it, I'm telling you, don't do it! For my DL, yeah, I hit 300 once, but it was in an adrenaline fueled environment, so honestly, I'm going to continue to count 275 as my DL PR. So, this particular case was -10 from my PR.

Considering the time I took off and everything that's happened in the past few weeks/months, I'm pretty pleased with that total. I wish it would have been 580 (missing that BS really bothered me) but aside from that, I think I did well. I maintained good form and was close to PR's on all lifts, so really that's a pretty good indicator of my ability. To be able to almost maintain my true max on each of those is pretty solid. I know that's the idea, but to be able to ACTUALLY max all three times when you've already done two other lifts before hand is hard. So I'm pleased with where I wound up. Now I sort of now what to expect for next time.

Cleans and double unders...

2010-09-01T13:28:00.000-04:00

This really ought to be sufficient enough to explain how I feel about the wod today... :P

After today's wod:

Katie: So I spent about 5 minutes doing the cleans and that means it took me 13 and a half minutes to do the double unders. *shakes head*

Jerry: Actually, it took you more like 2 and a half minutes to do the cleans. You finished the first round in :20.

Katie: So, then you're saying it took me 16 and a half minutes... to do the double unders.

Jerry: Yeah.

Katie: Oh. I really hate double unders.

Today's WOD
5 cleans (115)
30 double unders

Time: 18:55

It REALLY actually took me that long to do the f'ing double unders! I HATE double unders. But that made my third wod this week. Yay for me. I'm getting back to my old self... yes in the CF way but others too. Now let's just hope I figure out this job situation soon.

Intervals, front squats, Punkin' Ale, and the return of PUMPKIN SPICED LATTES!

2010-08-31T09:30:00.003-04:00

Check out the info on the Punkin' Ale here...

I hope that my beer and coffee porn were enough to significantly tide you over until I could get around to writing up this blog. I had to work a double yesterday so I was just short of time to get my post written. Anyway, it's been a hectic few days in Katie land with lots of work, some workin' out, and in general that whole trying to have a life thing. It's workin' out ok, I mean, nothin' to write home about but things are moving along. The next great life plan is sort of in the works... at least I'm trying to get it in the works and it may involve going back to the classroom and doing some other things on the side to help me with a 2nd career switch further down the road, but that still remains to be seen. I've got a couple months to figure things out for sure sure... so we'll see. But in the meantime, I'm serving A LOT... but enjoying learning a lot about BEER! :) Or at least the beers that my particular company makes... so it's been fun.

But you know what else is fun?!?!! The fact that PUMPKIN SPICED LATTES ARE BACK! Seriously, I love this time of year... for cereal. The weather will start to cool down soon, Penn State football comes back on Saturday (SQUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!) and of course, Starbucks gives me something pumpkin to drink. I heart pumpkin. No, really. It's like my favorite flavor of all time...well sort of. Chocolate is sort of my favorite.... but I'm digressing! I love me some pumpkin lattes and they're back... and my company is releasing their pumpkin beer this week so all things considered, this is a very exciting week for me! Good coffee, good beer, football... lord I may pass out from all the wondiferousness of this all! :) Yup, I did it, I created a new word today... you should be jealous.

Anyway, when I haven't been working, working on job apps, or drooling over all things pumpkin flavored, I've gotten some work in at the box this week. During my return week two weeks ago, I was able to get 4 wods in. Last week I managed to jack up my back doing deadlifts, and had a crazy work schedule so I only got 2 in. I'm aiming to do better than that this week and really get back with the swing of things.

Monday's wod was an interval style that is VAGUELY reminiscant of FGB... (there was a little sarcasm on the VAGUELY part there... just a wee smidge....) and it looked a little something like this.

5 rds of
1 min max reps push press (65)
1 min max reps push-ups
1 min max cals row
Rest 1 min

Total score 229

Given my suckiness at push-ups I was pretty pleased with this score. This weight is heavier than the weight used for FGB and I was able to maintain right around 20 reps per round. My push-ups have gotten better in recent months, but for whatever reason (perhaps the hiatus from CF) they were pretty terrible during this wod. I tried to game it a bit to work more reps on the push press since I am horrible at push-ups, but it didn't work as well as I would have liked. Regardless, I managed to pound out about 14 cals on the rower each time too, so hopefully that will be good news come FGB time. I would really like to hit that ever elusive 300 this year, and I think I may be able to. My box jumps have def improved and I think that if I game it right I can do it. We'll have to build up some seriously big numbers on the PP as a back up just in case, but we'll cross our fingers and hope for the best! We are still a month out so that will hopefully be a good opportunity for me to build my cardio endurance back up too. I felt like I pushed pretty well during this wod, but due to my push-up problems I didn't have one of the top scores of the day. Soooooo we'll have to see how things go here.

After that FUN interval day (there was more sarcasm there... just sos you know) we hit a round of front squats X 5. I felt pretty good with the front squats all things considered. I tried to remember the last time I actually front squatted and I couldn't. It's been that long for me. So, this was a great day to test out where I am. Jerry encouraged us to use no more than 6 sets to find our max X 5 so that we wouldn't burn out. I used 7 sets because after hitting 140X5 I felt pretty solid and decided to jump to 150. I hit the 150 X 5 pretty solidly but figured while I could probably hit 155 X 5, I would be very sore and have issues walking later. I decided that since I had to work a double yesterday that that probably wasn't a wise idea. Turns out that last night we went from empty to full in roughly 20 minutes, so I'm awfully glad that I was able to walk during that time. It was really the right choice.

Soooo no work today... woot! My first day off since last Tuesday. Woot! So I'm going to hit the box early this morning and then see where the day takes me... I might get all wild and crazy and drink some pumpkin' ale... :) woot!!!!!!

Operation Ward 57

2010-08-27T16:14:00.000-04:00

I recently became a volunteer with an organization called Operation Ward 57. This organization supports wounded warriors when they first arrive at Walter Reed. Operation Ward 57 is an important organization that does great things for the soldiers who are housed in this ward. Wounded Warrior Project does do a lot to help the soldiers as they learn to adjust to life without limbs, but Operation Ward 57 is there when the soldiers arrive on the ward. They provide t-shirts and blankets as well as hats, and other small things like razors that the soldiers request. Operation Ward 57 is a small organization that could use your support. Fan them on FB here and keep up with their goings on, and if you'd like, purchase your own Operation Ward 57 t-shirt. Proceeds from the shirts go to purchasing more shirts and the like for soldiers and families who are just arriving to the ward.

You didn't think Fran could be worse?

2010-08-26T09:15:00.000-04:00

Think again... Tuesday's wod was Fran + running... I'm not sure how, but it seems like in the last two weeks, everytime we got to the gym, the wod has SOMETHING in it that I suck at. Twice it's been ring dips, we got running twice, I got push-ups once, deadlifts.... if I didn't know any better, I'd swear someone hated me or was just plain trying to kill me... regardless though.... I have gotten two days in already this week, but since today I have to work a double, I'm not going to go do today's wod which involves a mile run and then walking lunges. For comfort purposes while I'm at work for the next 12 hours, I just don't think that sounds like a good idea.... I mean, I may be WAY out on a limb here.... but I'm thinkin' not so much a good idea. Believe it or not, servers actually NEED their legs to move in order to work. Yeah... crazy thoughts there I know, but really we do! :P

Btw, someone told me yesterday about the rumor that Oprah told people to tip 10% during these tough economic times... I certainly hope she didn't actually say that, but if she did, please don't follow that advice. If I screw up, and lord knows that I do on occassion, please feel free to jack my tip accordingly. But if not, please dont' tip 10% just because it saves you money. When you don't tip your server, they actually don't get paid. No, I'm not joking. You do know servers don't make minimum wage right? In the great state of VA it's $2.13/hr. And I get to tip out at the end of the night, so my food runners, bar tenders, and bus boys/girls get a pretty nice chunk of "my" money.

Ok, moving on from my service industry rant, back to Fran...or sort of Fran... or RFran (Running Fran?)? Either way you slice it... it SUCKED! My Fran time is... meh. It's not bad, could be better. But let's be honest, my running... wah, wah, wah.... yeah. That's how good that is. So when you put the two together, you get a whole lot of suckage. RFran looks like this...

21 Thrusters 21 Pull-ups 800 M run
15 Thrusters 15 Pull-ups 600 M run
9 Thrusters 9 Pull-ups 400 M run

Total time: 19:35

Not bad for a girl who took a hiatus, and sucks at running. Still, this blew... and if I had to, I would probably not repeat this again... actually, I may repeat this again, but you know what I sure as f wouldn't do?!?!?!? I wouldn't drink a coffee an hour before!!!! I totally figured that with an hour + before I even started to warm up, the coffee would work it's way through my system. Oohhhhhhhh I was so wrong about that, and as I was running, yeah, I seriously almost bit it a couple times. I have never actually met Pukie (probably shouldn't have said that because now it's almost inevitable) in the three years I've been doing CF but lord if ever there was a day, that was pretty close to it. I seriously thought I was going to lose it a couple times on that run. I was pushing pretty hard and I thought it was going to happen... so I forced myself to slow down on the runs.

Note to self (and others) DO NOT DRINK COFFEE IMMEDIATELY BEFORE FRAN OR RFRAN!

This has been a friendly CF public service announcement.... :P

BTW... CWeiss... I hope you're happy that I'm posting my wods again... I'm doing it just for you... :P

Oh yeah, yesterday's wod... I didn't do so hot because apparently math is not my thing... LOL...

"Do Work"

30 Deadlifts
60 Ring Dips
120 Sit-ups

Partition anyway you'd like. DL should be 80% of max. Abmats or GHD's can be used for sit-ups. I tried to get up to 80% of my max but my head just wasn't circling right around the DL's. For whatever reason, my deadlifts are just so weak. I lose tension and then it's all back and that's just not good. So I dropped, then dropped again, then dropped again, and then realized I was done with dips but not dl's or sit-ups..... duh! :P So my deadlifts finished around 60% of my max instead of 80% but hey, you know, I played it smart and I lived to walk today and still got a sweat in, so I guess that's the good thing. And with all this talk about me doing this to stay healthy, this was perfect. I got work in... it wasn't super fast or strong, but I was smart and still worked my muscles. So... it was still a good day. :P

Fight Gone Bad V

2010-08-26T08:24:00.000-04:00

It's getting close to that time again... it's time for us to put all of our CF hard work to good use and support a terrific cause. On September 25th, affilites across the globe will participte in the Fight Gone Bad fundraiser to support the Wounded Warrior Project and also the Lance Armstrong Foundation. If you are someone whose affiliate has not signed up to participate or if you are someone who is not currently attached to an affiliate, PLEASE consider donating to someone who is. Since living in DC, I have become very dear friends with a number of people who wear a uniform, and this cause has become very near and dear to my heart. While my friends have been lucky enough not to need the help and support of an organization like the Wounded Warrior Project, that doesn't mean that they never will. It is good to know that should something happen to them, there are organizations out there ready and willing to help. If you are not participating or don't have a team, I would be ecstatic if you would donate to my page and my team. All of the proceeds go to a great cause so even if it's $5, it's going somewhere where it's needed. Here is the link to my fundraising page. If your affiliate is involved or you've already pledged that's great! Here's to helping a terrific cause!

S-O-R-E

2010-08-23T15:16:00.000-04:00

Wow... it's amazing how taking just three measly little weeks off has turned me into a whining simpering baby. I swear. I've found myself cowering in corners and rocking back and forth trying to make myself feel better, but unfortunately to no avail. Ok, ok, so fine. It hasn't been THAT bad... but I did spend a sleepless night last night because I just could NOT get comfortable on my sore shoulders. No, seriously. One shoulder would go numb and my fingers would tingle and I'd roll over and then the other shoulder... I tried sleeping on the back, the front... the whole nine yards, but no avail. Pretty sad state of affairs huh?

Regardless, I still got in four days last week. Friday's snatch/pull-up/push-up fest should have been better thought out, but hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it? Friday's wod went like this.

12 snatch/24 pull-ups/48 push-ups
9 snatch/18 pull-ups/36 push-ups
6 snatch/12 pull-ups/24 push-ups
3 snatch/6 pull-ups/12 push-ups

I got this in in just under 24 minutes. Not great, but by no means one of the fastest times of the day. I mean, honestly, to be fair, I did the heaviest weight, I haven't worked out in 3 weeks, and we all KNOW that push-ups and I just for whatever reason don't get along... so truthfully this wasn't all THAT bad. :P

I had to rest Wednesday and Thursday though before I could do this on Friday because I was so sore. After I did this though, I wound up getting wickedly sore for Saturday. I still came in despite a slight alarm clock/clock fail and did max back squats X 3. I hit 3 X 200 so I was pretty pleased with that. Good to know that after a 3 week hiatus my speed may be in the crapper but my strength is still pretty good. It'd probably be even better if I'd stop drinking Starbucks, but I SWEAR they put crack in that stuff!!! Ah well... still too wicked sore to hit a wod today especially since it involves hspu's but maybe tomorrow..... we'll see how I sleep tonight before I decide....

Back at it...

2010-08-17T13:52:00.001-04:00

Yesterday marked my official return to the workout world, and I have to say, I could have picked a better day to come back after a 3 week hiatus. Nothing like a 30 minute AMRAP to make you think there may not be a God and that Satan has overtaken CF. Ok, so maybe it wasn't THAT bad but it still sucked a lot. I went in this morning too to hit a second wod this week and took it somewhat light on a heavy deadlift day. I haven't deadlifted in over a month, and haven't attempted a 1RM since the scene at the CF Regionals in Ohio. Part of that is because I don't like deadlifts, and part of that has to do with the fact that I pretty royally messed my back up in Ohio with my 300lb max effort and the following attempt at 305.

I have to say it felt a little weird to be back. I've taken a lot of time to rest and relax and getting back into old habits just feels a little odd. It's sort of like putting on a pair of shoes you haven't worn in awhile. They certainly still fit but they rub a little bit differently because you're not used to wearing them. I'm sure I'll hit a few more workouts this week and we'll see how things go, but for now I'm just getting back into things while still taking it easy. (I want to be able to walk the rest of the week...) For those of you who enjoy reading my wods and doing them on your own... here's yesterday's... (I'm pretty sure you can figure out how to do today's 1RM deadlift... just guessin'! :P)

AMRAP in 30 minutes

400 M run
15 pull-ups
15 ring dips
XX OHS (number depending upon weight)

OHS Weight and Rep Scheme
PVC-30
35-20
55-12
75-9
95-6

Getting back into the working out groove will be interesting, especially since I'm down to JUST my restaurant job now and my schedule there is completely unpredictable. Doubles, off, day, night... I bounce all over the place. It's weird to be down to JUST one job. I can't tell you the last time that happened. I honestly think it was last summer. Because once school started I had two, three, and for a brief while in there, there were 4 jobs all running concurrently. It's WEIRD. I'm finding I now have a lot of free time if I don't work during the day, so I'm certainly going to need to find some things to do during that time to remain productive so that I don't wind up landing myself in hot water. Me + free time = bad idea. I still have a whole stack of books beside my bed from last summer's reading bucket list. I think I'll start there, but after that, who knows!??!?

On a separate note though, I really need dating help. No, I'm seriously not joking. I really do. About a month ago, I wrote a little blurb in my blog about dating that went something like... I met a guy, enjoy his company, want to spend more time together, but f'ed it all sorts of up because I'm a freakin' retard and talk/text all the time. I mean, c'mon, I run a blog for Pete's sake! Obviously I have a LOT to say/share. Fast forward to right before my PA vacation... literally the Sunday night before I left.

I was having a drink with a friend of mine, and he asked me about my love life. I smiled, the way I do when I'm completely bs'ing and said it was fine. I was fine being alone, and that I have accepted the fact that for me, I'm just destined to be on my own. Happiness in that regard is for other people, but not for me. While he was in the restroom I happened to overhear part of a conversation a guy near me was having with the bartender. While my friend was gone I chimed in with my two cents and when my friend returned, the guy decided to continue to talk to me. My friend decided to leave and I wound up alone at the bar with the aforementioned gentleman.

As midnight crept closer, I decided it was time for bed, after all I usually turn into a pumpkin after 10 o'clock so I knew I was pushing it. I paid for the drink on my tab and was about to head out when the guy asked for my number. I will admit that I have no game and I NEVER get hit on by men. NEVER. Given the previous conversation, and the timing, I almost took it as a sign and gave him my number. We talked a lot when I was home in PA and I saw him twice after I returned, but now, I have no idea how to act. I hate to call or text because I'm a frequent overtexter and I know I've already said too much because I've been honest. I feel like I've already blown it because I haven't played games and I've been honest (probably too much so) and told him I like spending time with him. Not to mention, I asked him to do things, which apparently you're NOT supposed to do.

I know the obvious answer is "don't call him/text him, let him call you" but I hate that. I HATE that I have to play some game in order to spend time with someone who I think (now that I know him a little) is pretty kick ass. He is funny and keeps up with my smartassitude pretty well. Again, I'm not saying I think I'm going to marry him, but he's a guy I'd like to see again. So aside from the stop texting/calling, other thoughts? My sister told me that if it's a real thing, it shouldn't be hard and I shouldn't have to try... I'm not sure if this falls into that category or not. It felt easy at first, he didn't seem to mind talking/texting... now it just feels confused... and I'm super upset. Not necessarily because it may not work, but moreso because I'm just tired of going through the wringer and tired of trying to figure all these things out. I honestly just want someone to like me for me and understand that yes, I am talkative, and yes, I do text a lot, but that's just part of my personality. I swear to God, I'm not crazy, but because of my talkative tendencies, I really do come off like the crazy chick. Underneath that though is a really super big heart that would do anything for someone she cared about. Unfortunately, the overtalkative person usually screws things up before I get to the other person figuring out that I have a big heart and am worth hanging out with. Anyone out there better at this than I? Married folks, I'm lookin' at you!!!!!

Ah... well... such is the life of a single twenty-something I suppose.

If it makes you happy, do it!

2010-08-15T16:41:00.002-04:00

After a lot of thought and discussion with a few folks, I decided that the best course of action for me at this point was to take one more week off CF before getting back down to business. I just felt that vacation was good, but I felt at the same time that I still needed a little more time before jumping back into working out again. I don't want you to worry though that I've been a completely lazy bum. I did go out for some running this week and also hit the pool for a bit so I'm still doing SOMETHING. While it's certainly not as intense as CF, I'm ok with that because I think for this week it was appropriate.

I am someone who has a very hard time admitting what's really going on with me to the people around me. Seems odd that I can do it in a blog but not to actual people, but hey I suppose we all have our quirks. Regardless, I had a really hard time just admitting that I've been really burnt out. I should have honestly taken the time away from things after regionals, but I didn't. I was too worried about gaining weight and losing progress and not keeping up, that honestly and truly, I just lost sight of things.

Until three weeks ago, I had been going non-stop for about the last nine months or so. I was literally running myself into the ground and my body was telling me that, but I was a little bit on the too stubborn side to listen. Ok, ok, ok, FINE. A lot on the too stubborn side to listen. But, I'm listening now and I think it's a good thing. I'm sure other folks have gone through what I am currently experiencing right now; that period of time where you feel like you should work out, but it's just not enjoyable anymore. I realize and understand fully that not every wod is going to be fun. But when getting out of bed and going to the box feels more like a chore than something you want to do, that's not quite the same. And that's the point that I got to. I didn't want to get out and go. I didn't want to lift another weight. Heavy things, which are my true passion, were not fun. That was another clear sign that things had shifted. My wheelhouse wasn't fun for me anymore.

So for the last three weeks, I've been taking a break. My cardio has taken a hit for sure and I could tell that just by the few runs that I went out for. I know I've fallen pretty far back in the near month I've been off, but you know what, I'm actually ok with that. Getting back to where I was will be a good challenge for me, and it will actually give me a goal, something to work for. That's something I haven't had in awhile.

I know that with CF people spend a lot of time talking about rest days, but I feel like what I've been going through isn't something people ever really address (at least from an HQ standpoint). I know that CF is varied and different, but even with CF being different, I think it's still possible to hit that plateau where you just feel like if you do one more wod you're going to scream. After going through the past several months and making the decisions (and mistakes) I've made, I would highly encourage others who feel the same way to take a bit of a break. There's nothing wrong with going for a bike ride, a swim, a run, or *gasp* a walk, as a way to get exercise. I think sometimes we start to feel that after doing CF, other exercise isn't as good. Almost like it's inferior. I (now) say bah. I think it's good to mix it up, and so long as you are staying active and enjoying yourself, THAT'S what counts. I think in the past 3 weeks, I've enjoyed my workouts more than I have in awhile. I've enjoyed mixing things up and getting out there doing different things.

Working out should make you feel good, not stressed. It shouldn't necessarily always be "fun" but it should be something you enjoy doing, and something that keeps you moving. If you've been reading my blog for awhile now, you may have noticed that there is a definitive shift in my thinking. I've gone from a CF only sort of mindset, to really focusing not on CF, but on being healthy and HAPPY. Quitting my job was the start, but I'm really on a journey to find and do things that will make me happy as well as healthy. If CF doesn't make you happy, then DON'T DO IT. The goal of CF is to make you a healthy individual, but it's not the only thing in the world that will do that. Don't force yourself to do something you don't enjoy, even if you know it's effective. I did that with swimming and wound up absolutely hating something that I had loved for years. Give yourself a break. Try to do other things and see if after awhile you're spirit and enthusiasm for doing what you left aren't renewed. For the first time in a long time, I saw a wod posted the other day and actually almost had the itch to go do it. I think had I not taken the time away that I have, I don't think I would have felt that way about it. So, I'm going with a new motto... if it makes you happy do it! So starting tomorrow... I'm going to go back to CFOT. And if it makes me happy, then I'm going to keep doing it! :) And if not, then we'll cross that bridge when we get there! If it makes you happy, do it!

Where in the world is Katie?

2010-08-03T11:18:00.005-04:00

It's been several days since I've posted up a blog, which for me is really odd and unusual. I'm a very talkative person and I typically have a lot to say, but honestly, for the past several weeks my usual sense of humor and sense of fun has been buried. I've been pretty seriously stressed to the max and been pretty miserable. Writing and trying to be funny and/or inspiring really just wasn't something I wanted to do.

For the first time since regionals, my schedule has finally allowed me to leave VA. I know. That sounds pretty insane, but for three months I was contractually obligated to stay in VA and not leave the Alexandria area basically. With swim meets on weekends and practices on Mondays that I wasn't supposed to miss, it was hard to get away and just shut things out for a hot minute.

I'm not someone who deals well with change, I will wholeheartedly own up to that. Almost as soon as I decided to be brave and leave teaching, a whole host of other changes came my way and pretty soon I felt like I was getting buried. My two roommates have left my house, leaving me with change there. I'm not angry with them for that because they need to do what's best for their lives and their careers. It does suck however that at the same time I got slammed with two new roommates I don't know. They both seem nice and like really cool people, but learning to live with two new people and two different set of quirks/schedules/habits can be a wee bit stressful. On top of that there were pressures from my schedule which despite being down to two jobs was still driving me insane. I was getting more time to myself, but it was coming in weird chunks, and I was always running. I'd do morning practice, then have three hours to myself until I either had to go to the restaurant, or drive a half hour again back down to Mt. Vernon. It really sucked a lot more than I thought it would.

To throw yet another monkey wrench in there, I finally gave up on a relationship that I probably should have given up on months/years ago, but for whatever reason, just couldn't. Despite the fact that I know it was the right thing, it still sucked. Not to mention, those friends who promised not to lose touch when I left teaching have continued to see each other, but not me. God bless Facebook for showing me all their fun outtings right? It hurt to see, and it hurt to feel excluded... but what hurt more was the fact that I felt like I couldn't talk about it. I didn't want to admit to anyone that I wasn't ok, that I wasn't reveling in the amazing choices that I had made and I wasn't a whole new and totally happy person. I pushed everything down and did what I always do. I worked. I ignored it as if it didn't exist, and I worked.

The only problem with supressing that much stuff is that it's bound to resurface at some point. When there is that much "stuff", it's not going to stay down forever, and it didn't. I tried very hard to just keep going and working out and doing everything people wanted me to do and all the things I was supposed to do, but it was a big challenge. And somewhere admist all this "stuff", CF stopped being fun. It wound up being another stresser again.

To be honest, I think that after regionals I should have taken more time away from CF. I was pretty burnt then on CF, but here's a truth about me. I have a huge weight issue, and to be honest, I was afraid, and still am, that if I take the necessary time away from CF to get back to where it's fun again, I'm going to gain a lot of weight. CF has been the only thing that has ever helped me fight that battle, and I guess I have this fear that the second I stop CF, I'm going to put it all right back on. I know that that is totally illogical, but still... it floats in the back of my head. A few weeks ago, I started spending more time in the pool while there with the team because I wanted to get in some extra work, and because there were days where I just didn't want to go do another metcon or run or do more double unders. I felt like I needed to do something to get some exercise in and help keep the weight off since going to CF just didn't appeal to me.

I was suffering from burnout. Bottom line. Same thing happened with swimming several years ago, but regardless I kept pushing through. Over time, I grew to absolutely hate swimming. For a long time just the smell of chlorine was enough to make me grow increasingly nauseous. Swimming is starting to get fun again, but it's taken a hiatus of 4 years to get there. I don't want that to happen with CF, so I've taken a minor hiatus. I haven't hit the box since last Wednesday when I had a minor meltdown (remember what I said about that "stuff" resurfacing?) and I've in general been taking it easy. I'm, for the first time in a REALLY long time, going easy on myself and my body. I got in the pool yesterday and hit an hour long session, and may do the same today, or go run some trails around my house. Dunno. We'll see.

So, the big question, where is Katie? Physically, I'm sitting in central Penciltucky on the farm, and have been enjoying, for the most part, cooler temperatures, less humidity, my family's new cat, and an absence of Starbucks lattes. I have however discovered, since there is not a Starbucks within 20 miles of me, that Starbucks coffee (ground) plus Hazelnut creamer, does the trick quite well. I'm on my third cup of coffee this morning, and even with the creamer (5g carbs/tablespoon), I am STILL below the sugar count of my grande latte. (I believe the way I make it it sports 58g carbs per grande... yikes) So, it's not totally Primal or Paleo, but when it comes down to it, it's a far better choice, and it still tastes good. (Eat this, not that)

But, I guess the where is Katie (physically) question was probably not the one you were really worried about were you? Fair enough. It wasn't really the one I was worried about either. So, where is Katie mentally? Right now, Katie is much more relaxed mentally. Just getting out of DC and having the freedom to take time off work and leave has meant a HUGE reduction in stress. Not to mention, the pace of life here is MUCH slower. (Nothing says slow pace of life like horses and buggies right?!?!?) It has helped to simply calm me down and get me back to being me again. I've been able to work out, but I've also been able just to wander and go about a much more relaxed schedule and I've been able to enjoy myself again. Just by removing a few stressers, I feel more able to deal with the other ones.

Will I be back at CF on Monday morning? At this point, I don't know. I've liked hiking and swimming and *gasp* running on my own. It's been nice. It's been cathartic. (Did I spell that right?) But being on my own does make me miss CF a bit too. Regardless though, I think taking some time away was necessary and my trip home fell at a REALLY good time. Mentally I'm much healthier and much more relaxed now than I was a few weeks, or really, even just a few days ago. The good news is that I'm getting things back on track, and the good news is, that some serious evaluations have been made. Life is moving in the direction it needs to. I just need to figure out and learn how to adjust to those movements.

I've been lucky enough in my life to grow up in a small town where things rarely change. It's nice to have consistency. I've lived in one house my whole life... terrific. All of my memories of the past 28 years are in that house and on that property. It's great to know that things rarely change. The probablem with all this though is that when things do change, it throws me into a tailspin because I have no idea how to deal with it. My life has always stayed the same right?! So, the bottom line is that I will need to continue to work on going with the flow and adjusting to life as it throws curves at me. I came up with this analogy on my FB the other day and it seemed to fit.

"You know how sometimes people put rocks in tumblers so that they come out all shiny and sparkly on the other side? Maybe life is putting me through a tumbler so I come out all shiny and sparkly on the other side?"

As crazy as the analogy is, it almost makes sense. Maybe this is life's way of forcing me to change and to polish up some of my parts. Who knows truthfully, but it's going to take work to get through this, and now that I'm a little more relaxed and not so freaked out, I feel more ready to tackle things. So, here's to hoping I can start putting things together.

What does it mean to be a CF "badass"?

2010-07-22T15:57:00.006-04:00

Before I start writing this post, I want to post a little disclaimer. If you take a look at that really big blog title up here.... look up, little higher, little... uh huh! Yup there you go... you got it... If you notice, it says KATIE'S Mindless Ramblings. Not Kristen or Amanda or Sarah or Jane... KATIE'S. That means that all the thoughts contained in this blog are my own. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're my thoughts and opinions. Of course my thoughts and opinions are ALWAYS subject to change... it's my perogative (Thank you Bobby Brown), but regardless they are still MY thoughts. Do you have to agree with them? Of course not! But if you're coming to read my blog and read my thoughts and opinions, I will only say one thing. Be respectful. I welcome and encourage other thoughts and opinions, regardless of whether you're a regular commentor, a lurker, or someone who has stumbled upon me for the first time. However, I will not tolerate stupidity, ignorance, or disrespect. You wanna attack me for sharing my thoughts? Pack a lunch pal 'cause I won't put up with it. Now, having said that, on to the day's ramblings....

This past weekend was a busy weekend for me with shifts at my restaurant and two swim meets, and needless to say, I was not able to glue myself to the computer to watch the live streaming of the CrossFit Games. When I got some down time on Tuesday to go check things out, I have to say that I became apalled. When I started to read the message boards and saw all the people tearing one another to shreds over one another's opinions, it nearly made me sick to my stomach. The CF community has thrived due to the support system that it has ultimately created. But on that particular thread, it almost seemed to be a case of "he who bitches the loudest and the longest wins". On and on the threads went about who's badass and who isn't and who should've won and how unfair it was... instead of just congratulating the athletes. Now, I understand fully that this is real life, and real life is not always, as my ex used to say, "happy go poppy". Things can't always be nice and full of bunnies and fluffy cute kittens (Did you see Despicable Me??? IT'S SO FLUFFY!!! Sorry... sidetracked). People have opinions, people start arguments, and people in general will be, well... people. But it seemed that the one thing that kept coming up on the threads was this idea of "being badass". People kept saying one thing or another made someone a badass and it really got me to thinking what all this "badass" stuff was about.

I have a hard time imagining what it must have been like for Coach Glassman as he sat dreaming up the idea of CF. How in the world could anyone have dreamt this up? I mean really. That aside though, I can picture him wanting a new type of fitness, a better way to train, but I have a hard time seeing him sitting in his basement going, "Well damn. I just want to make people badass." I don't see that as being part of the logic for him starting all this. But it seems to be an idea that is now running rampant in the CF community. Everyone is striving to be "badass". But what does that even mean? There seems to be, at least in this girl's opinion, a subculture forming in CF that is focused on their "badassitude" and believes that badasses are made more by appearance and personality than actual actions. It seems that they have the idea that just walking through the door with a certain type of image makes someone a badass.

Now, before you go all psycho, breathe. I think you know what I'm driving at. It seems that there are a lot of people out there coming into the CF world because it's the hip/cool thing to do. They seem to think that by showing up and looking/acting a certain way, it makes them a badass, which therefore is wicked cool. Being a true badass IS seriously wicked cool. But you know what, here's a clue. Tatting yourself until you're blue in the face doesn't make you badass. Wearing next to nothing to the box does not make you badass. Swearing so much that your mother breaks out the bible does NOT make you badass. So what does? In this girl's opinion, again MY opinion, there are a few key factors to being a badass. What are they you ask? I'm so glad you asked! I'd be happy to tell you! :)

Showing up to the wod

If you're truly going to be a badass, in my opinion, you need to show up for the wod. Not once a week, or twice a week when you're feeling great and ready to take on the world. Or not once or twice a week when it's something you know you're good at and you like to do. To be a badass you need to show up, regardless of the circumstances, and hit the wod. Whether you're sore, have 2 hours of sleep, two kids screaming your name, or a stack of work waiting at the office... badasses make the time and get it done. They show up regardless of how sore they are, how off they feel, how much they know they suck at the wod, and to put it quite simply, they put in the work. Does this mean they crush EVERY single wod? No. They have their off days and their chinks in their armor, but a true badass doesn't shy away from getting it done. A badass knows the importance of working out and working the weaknesses. A badass doesn't focus ONLY on the things they do well. A true badass knows that they are only as good as their weakest link.

Guts

Raise your hand if you think a badass is someone who starts a wod, then walks away when it gets hard. Ok, now raise your hand if you think that a badass is someone who is content to only go at about half speed on a wod? That's what I thought. A badass is someone who not only comes in and hits the wod, but has drive and determination to grit through and gut through every wod, as hard as they can. Badasses don't stop in the middle of a wod, shrug their shoulders and say, "I'm just not feeling super powerful. I'm going to stop today." Badasses don't say, "I'm going to just you know, take it easy today." Badasses don't pick the lighter barbell/kettlebell for the day, "just cause". No, wrong answer. Badasses are people who say, "This wod is kicking my ass, but I'm going to get through it." Or, "I feel like total poo, but I'm just going to go as hard as I can." Right there, that's what makes someone a badass. Literally just going down deep within themselves to find the guts to just keep going and to push it as best they can. Lord it sucks, but they find a way. It takes guts to be a badass.

The "Know When to Fold 'Em" Gene

Now, having said what I said about grit and guts, someone who is truly a badass also possesses a certain knowledge and understanding that I like to call the "Know When to Fold 'Em" gene. A true badass will push themselves to their limits, but a true badass also knows when a risk is not worth the reward. As CF'ers we flirt, DANGEROUSLY sometimes, with the line between hard work and just plain being stupid. A true badass is someone who knows when that line has been crossed. As CF'ers we want to push ourselves to the edge to become those elite athletes, but at some point, we also need to know when to pull back away from that edge so that we don't go hurtling over into an abyss. What good is finishing a wod if after doing so, you can't walk/work/move correctly for a month? That's not helping you continue to grow as an athlete. A badass knows when to push through, but a badass also knows when they just need to walk away. As Willie said, "You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run." A badass knows. Kind of like Chuck Norris. They just KNOW.

Performance

Let's be honest. What would a badass be without a few stellar performances? Maybe it's their strength, maybe it's their speed, but badasses have some things in their wheelhouses, and man, WHEW! It's really impressive when they let them out. This isn't to say that a badass must have complete mastery of all areas and domains of CrossFit. Everyone has chinks. But it is saying that a badass should be a pretty good performer when 3-2-1 gets called.

And last but not least, perhaps the most important key to being a TRUE badass....

Humility

You know what struck me most about the comments on the CF Games thread? Aside from the name calling and general arguing, it was the comments from the athletes themselves. All through that thread, people were arguing about safety, the points system, how unfair it was, who SHOULD have won... and then in the midst of it all were calm comments from the athletes themselves. This to me was the EPITOMY of what it means to be a true badass, and why those athletes are badasses.

A true badass is someone who understands that there are days where wods will be crushed, and wods that will crush them. There will be days when their efforts are enough to win, and days when their best will fall short. A true badass knows these things, understands their abilities, and celebrates their successes and failures without insulting others. A true badass understands the value of having an opportunity and is grateful to those who made it happen and supported it while it happened. A true badass knows that there is always work to be done, and that there is no such thing as perfection. A true badass knows that they should always speak softly and rock your world when 3-2-1 goes down. True badasses don't need to laud themselves from the mountaintops. Their actions speak for them. They possess the ultimate characteristic of a true badass... humility. For these athletes, no words are necessary to let everyone know how badass they are... they simply are. However, if they happen to own a cool pair of socks that HAPPENS to mention their badassitude... well, that's ok too... ;)

Now is this saying that you can't be a badass if you like to swear a lot, wear next to nothing, and cover your body in tattoos? No, absolutely not. That's a lifestyle/body style/workout attire that some people prefer. But I'm saying that those things alone, which seem to be such prevalent indicators of badassitude in CF these days, do not automatically make someone a badass. If you wanna be a badass, you gotta pony up. Put the work in, and humble yourself down. A badass who tells everyone how badass they are, is really no badass at all. So, are YOU a badass?

CrossFit for life? Or CrossFit for life?

2010-07-14T20:32:00.059-04:00

Depending on how you read the two questions above, they can be absolutely the same, or they can have two TOTALLY different meanings. It all depends on how you interpret it. As I am going through some HUGE life changes at the moment, I've really been forced to sit down and analyze a lot of things. When you of course start analyzing some parts of your life, it's not such a far cry to start to think about other parts of your life. So I began to think about what my reasoning for GOING to CF was.

I've heard a lot of people say that now that they've found CrossFit they'll never go back to their old exercise routine and that they're CrossFitters for life now. Then I've heard other people say that they're not sure if they'll do CrossFit forever but they're going to do it for their quality of life, their ability to live. And I started to think about which of these statements really defined me as an athlete. I'd love to sit here and say that I am a CrossFit for life type of girl and I'll never have another exercise routine besides CF. But you know, the reality is, I like doing a lot of different types of things. I can't swear that for the rest of my life, I'm going to be a 4/5 day a week type of CF girl. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like CF, but I think that there are so many other ways to exercise, it seems a shame not to take advantage of them all. I love to swim. I swam for 16 years, but if you've ever done a swim practice, you know it's pretty tiring. Now try to imagine then turning around and doing a CF WOD that same day. You'd be whooped! I think trying to do 4/5 of CF plus something else would also be a great way to overtrain. I think that CF is a great compliment to a lot of other types of training, but I think that saying that it's CF and only CF for life is a way to sell yourself short. There are lots of things to experience in our world, and I don't think I want to miss out on any of them. Not to mention, what happens if I leave DC?? I have become successful with CF largely in part due to the team at my affiliate, and who's to say my training would be the same on my own without them? I don't know what my future holds, and I don't want to make broad sweeping statements. Do I think I'll do it as long as I can? Absolutely, but am I lifer? I don't know. That remains to be seen.

I definitely believe though that I am a CrossFit for life type of girl. Now, relax, cause I know you're aggravated that they sound exactly the same, but think of this. Almost 3 years ago, when I first stumbled onto CF through a recommendation, I didn't have a clue what I was getting into. I knew I wasn't happy with how I looked and I knew I wasn't happy being a former athlete who struggled to walk up flights of stairs without breathing heavy. It seemed a little rediculous to me. After about 6 months of getting used to CF, I started to get into the Zone. Through the Zone and some serious wicked training, I was able to lose, at my very lowest, 25 lbs. It was like I was a whole new person. I was able to do more and feel better about doing it. Now, having said that, I've also gained a lot of that back. Some of it in muscle mass, but not all of it, I'll be honest. I have a very hard time following strict diet plans and so the little things that would help me lose the weight, like not drinking coffee, I have a hard time doing. But regardless, overall, my quality of life is SO much better than it would have been had I continued to do what I was doing. I don't know what my future holds in store for me, I don't know if I'll always have an affiliate to call home, and I don't know that I'll always be able to do 4/5 days a week of CF. But I do know that right now, I don't care so much about my times or my weights, although it does feel good when they are fast and heavy, I care about making sure that my pants fit, and that I am a healthy individual. I want to CF and do other things like swim, and hike, and bike, because I can. That's the type of life I want. The ability to be healthy and enjoy lots of different types of things. CF can help me get there. It can compliment the other things I do. It doesn't have to be my life. It's a part of it and it helps to ensure that the rest of my life is just as great as the time I spend in the box with my friends. I don't swear that I'm going to CrossFit forever, but I swear I'm going to keep hitting the box for as long as I can so that I can CrossFit to have the quality of life I want. I'm never going to win the CrossFit games, and I don't have a desire to be an 80 year old woman with a 12 pack. What a do want though, is to be able to be a healthy person and have a quality of life worth having. So will I CrossFit for life? Meh, maybe. We'll see. But will I CrossFit for life? Absofreakinlutely. So, which one are you?

Fear

2010-07-10T05:27:00.006-04:00

fear /fɪər/

–noun
1. a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.
2. a specific instance of or propensity for such a feeling: an abnormal fear of heights.
3. concern or anxiety; solicitude: a fear for someone's safety.
4. reverential awe, esp. toward god.
5. that which causes a feeling of being afraid; that of which a person is afraid: Cancer is a common fear.

As a child, rarely did you stop to think before you did something like climb a tree. You never stopped to pause and consider the consequences before you lept from the coffee table onto the couch. You did not consider that speeding down the hill on your bicycle may end in a crash. Fear. It's not something we have when we're younger. It's an emotion born of experience. Fear of relationships stems from being hurt. Fear of being broke typically stems from at some point in your life having very little. Fear or weight gain typically comes from an overstimulation from the media or a personal experience with it in your own life. Regardless it comes as a result of some sort of exposure to it. The bottom line here is that it's not something we are really born with. It's something that grows and develops over time. Fear, in my honest opinion, is by far the worst serial killer ever known to exist. What exactly do I mean by that? Well by now you should know me well enough to know that I don't make statements and never explain them. So here goes....

Fear is something that as an adult we tend to allow to paralyze us. Have you ever tried to SERIOUSLY put aside your fears and do something your afraid of? It's INCREDIBLY hard to do as an adult. Ever tried to overome a fear of heights, spiders, or being alone? It's incredibly difficult. As adults, our fears are so ingrained that removing them seems virtually impossible. Fear of the unknown, or fear of being broke, or fear of being alone has killed more dreams and more aspirations than any mass murder I can think of. Fear. As adults we are really good at coming up with a million and one reasons why we CAN'T do things. Fear. We allow fear to kill our desires, our very spirits, and essentially ourselves.

For a very long time, fear held me at a place in my life where I was not happy. I was so scared of being without a job that I was willing to stay in one that did not make me happy and was essentially making me ill because I was too scared to leave. I was afraid of the unknown. I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to find a new job, and terrified about not having enough money or having health insurance. I was so scared that it literally petrified me. But I came to a point in my life where I was able to put the fear aside. I made a choice for myself. I got to a point where I knew that if I did not leave teaching the consequences could be potentially dire, and I was not willing to do that to myself anymore. So I left. For the time it took for me to write my resignation letter and hand it in, I was able to put my fear aside. For that block of time, I was able to be fearless.

However, now that that time has come and gone, I find myself faced with new fears. Fears of being unemployed without a source of full-time income, fear that I will have to leave DC, fear that I will not be able to live this life any longer, and more than anything fear because I don't honestly know what I WANT to do for the rest of my life. These fears have become a very real thing. Everyday I now sit and pound out job applications hoping that I figure things out, hoping that a job comes my way, and hoping against hope that I don't have to give up the life I've made for myself here in DC.

When I first quit my job, two of my older and much wiser friends lauded me quitting. They told me that it took a lot of courage and bravery to leave in the manner which I did. To be unemployed in an economy so fragile that it resembles a Ukranian pysanky egg takes guts. At the time, I didn't quite get it. I didn't feel like I was being brave or courageous. I just felt like I was doing what I had to do. But now, sitting here weeks later, I understand. I'm doing what a lot of people have a very hard time doing and that is facing my fears head on. I don't have much of a choice. I have to deal with them or I will not ever leave my house.

It's not easy, it never is, but life is forcing my hand a bit right now, and while these fears sometimes seem to be swallowing me, I also have to say, so what? No, really. So what? If I have to leave DC, will I be sad? Absolutely, but you know what, the only thing permanent in life, is death. There is nothing saying that I can't come back when the time is right. Will it hurt? Oh hell yes. I would hate to walk away from CFOT and the family I've made there, but you know, I can return. If the money runs out, and I have to make some sort of a piecemeal situation work, so what? I'm young... well, youngish, and I can get on the footing I want to be on eventually right? But what about health insurance? Well there is Cobra right?

The bottom line is this. Fear can be an all encompassing thing if you let it. Fear of being unsuccessful with weight loss keeps a lot of people from ever trying. Fear of failure keeps a lot of people from every giving ANYTHING a go. Fear of dropping a barbell on their head keeps some people from gaining strength. Fear. It's a tiny four letter word, but it's a big thing. It does take guts, and it does take sticktoittiveness to overcome, but the bottom line is that sometimes you just have to. If you want to be able to get from point a to point b, sometimes you have to face it head on.

You have to get to that place where you say, "Ok, self. We're going to deal with this, and it's not going to be pretty, but we're going to do it a step at a time." It is ok to talk to yourself and give ye olde pep talk. Do it, and then take the first step. I didn't say jump in, I said, take a step. I'm learning in my old age that jumping headlong into things is not a successful way to attempt anything. My most successful weight loss was not done by jumping in, it was a gradual wading into the weight loss pool. My large successes at CF came after slowly ramping up the number of days I worked out, and getting some solid work in over a period of months. My largest successes as a teacher came when I broke things into chunks and worked things in over a period of time. Slow and steady is just fine. There's nothing saying that things should be done overnight, so why force that on yourself? But the point is, just try. Try to tackle something that you find so terrifying that it freezes you.

Is this post saying that I've become cured and I never wake up at night with fear wondering what the hell I'm going to do with the rest of my life? No. God no. I had my very first complete and utter breakdown the other day including the hysterical "What am I going to do with the rest of my life?" sobbing. But, that's ok. The point is that I'm getting there. I'm getting to the point where I'm seriously considering and weighing my options and realizing where I can go, and what I can do with the rest of my life and the FEAR isn't holding me completely in place. It may be making me feel like I'm walking through mud, but that's a far better feeling than the feeling of wearing concrete shoes I had before. It may take me another leap of faith and it may take some serious guts to put the wheel completely in motion, but I'm getting there. Baby steps you know. The bottom line is that I'm realizing I don't have to be completely afraid of this. This can be a good thing. Being unemployed is scary, but I have the time and the money to explore and to think and to really figure things out.

I realize that not everyone has job related fears right now. I realize others have fear in a lot of different areas. Some people it's work related, some people it's family, some people it's relationships, some people it's CF fear. No worries. Whatever it is that is holding you back, figure out a first step and go from there. Put a toe in the pool, and then maybe a foot, and after that maybe an ankle. It's scary and it takes guts, but tackling your fear head on may just be the best thing you ever do for yourself. Even if you realize the choices you've made are not the right ones, guess what. Now you know that. You've learned something and now there's never any second guessing. You've put the fear aside and you've learned and now you can go on with the rest of your life without reservation. Fear can be a silent killer if you let it. I think instead you should ride out and meet it.

Katie's Tasty Chili

2010-06-30T19:57:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I'm in love with chili. I know, I know. It's summer, it's like 8 million degrees here in DC, but I love chili, and so heat be damned, I made a ginormous pot. The funny thing is, I don't like chili really, mostly because people always try to make it spicy or add some "new" ingredient. Yuck. However, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way I make it. It's simple, it's tasty, and it's (mostly) Primal. The beans are not so bueno, but aside from that, all the other stuff, good for ya! So, since I never measure anything, this will be a little bit hard to write, but I'll do my best. Feel free to try it out on your own!

Ingredients list (be sure to hit the store!)
1 lb ground beef (as lean as you can get it! I used 96/4)
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 medium onion (yellow or you could try red for different flavor)
2 cans light red kidney beans
2 cans dark red kidney beans
1 large can WHOLE peeled tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes with roasted red peppers
1 can tomato paste
Ground cumin
Chili powder
Salt
Pepper
5 cloves garlic (I like garlic... adjust as you see fit)

Step 1- Be awesome... just being awesome will automatically make your chili better
Step 2- Chop onion, red pepper, green pepper and garlic
Step 3- Sip wine while sauteeing all of the above ingredients in a pan
Step 4- When veggies are slightly tender, throw in ground beef and finish veggies while browning ground beef. This allows onion and veggie flavors to cook into beef.
Step 5- While veggies and beef are sauteeing, bring tomato paste, whole tomatoes, and diced tomatoes to a simmer in a large stock pot
Step 6- While tomatoes are simmering, use spoon to break whole tomatoes into uneven chunks
Step 7- When beef is done browning, throw veggies and beef into stock pot with tomatoes. Stir
Step 8- Open all cans of beans and drain some of the liquid off the beans, then add remaining liquid and beans to pot. Continue to simmer
Step 9- Stir in salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder. I use roughly 1/8 tsp of each. Add more/less to your liking. For stronger flavorings, I also use Kosher salt. Kosher salt is great for cooking because the larger and rougher cut of the grains allow for a different taste.
Step 10- Cover chili and allow to simmer for 30-45 minutes.
Step 11- Dish into big bowls... small ones just won't do...
Step 12- If you so desire... add cheddar cheese, sour cream, or avacado/guacomole for a deeeeee-licious treat.
Step 13- Enjoy and then promptly fall into happy state of being... :)

Ze end!

So where were we?

2010-06-28T20:44:00.000-04:00

It's been over a week since I've been able to get to the computer. This is both a good and bad thing. It's a good thing because it means that I've been busy ending a chapter in my life. It's a bad thing because I haven't been blogging, and I haven't had as much time as I would like to devote to eating well. It seems I go through a few good days and a few bad days of eating at a time, but I always come back to the good in the end. It's good because I know what is and isn't healthy now, and I always come back to the healthy stuff when I can. But at the same time, it's bad because it seems that my life lately seems to be getting in the way of the healthy. I have ordered Primal BluePrint from Amazon to brush up on the actual do's and don'ts and hopefully now that I'm done ending a chapter of my life, I will be able to sit and read and actually DO the things I want to do. As I sit typing this, there is a mostly primal pot of chili simmering on the stove, just waiting to be topped with a smidge of sour cream and cheese and completely enjoyed by me. I'm hoping that nights like this will become more frequent and more varied as well.

Only time will tell what will and won't happen, and we all know that in the past I've made plans that haven't quite worked out the way I'd like. I'm feeling more positive this time though due to the changes I've been making in my life. I have been so busy these last few weeks because I decided to quit my job, well, my full time job anyway. I still am employed at my restaurant and am still coaching, but I've decided that teaching is no longer for me. I couldn't continue to work 3 jobs just so that I could continue to be a teacher. In the end, it wasn't worth it. I was getting a lot of abuse, having more and more work piled on me, and I truly wasn't happy. I'm a firm believer in the idea that only YOU can make YOU happy. You can't wait for something or someone else to do that for you. So, I took the plunge so to speak and I'm trying to figure out what exactly is going to make me happy. I know that for a little while anyway the money is ok, but I have begun to scour the internet for possibilities and options. I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen, but I'm hoping that it's something good. I'm hoping that I did the right thing.

As I was packing up my classroom, it was a lot harder than I thought. Putting 5 years of your life into boxes is a hard thing to do. Consolidating, deciding what to keep, toss, and donate was like parting with children. While packing, I finally realized just how much of myself and my own money I'd been putting into this job. There is literally probably $10,000 worth of supplies that I purchased, just to be able to DO my job. Somewhere in there that doesn't seem to make sense. Why in the world were those things not purchased by the schools? Why are teachers spending that much of their OWN money? In the end I decided to keep most of my things in case I ever decide to go back, but it was truly eye opening to realize just how much there is. Not to mention, it was just truly sad.

So, the boxing and the moving and the sorting has taken a while.... not to mention, until last Thursday, I was actually TEACHING. It seemed like this year was never going to end, but it did, and one chapter of my life has ended while another one is just beginning. I'm trying hard not to worry about the money, but of course, I am. For someone who has always had money issues, that's a hard thing not to do. But, like I always do, I'm going to keep on trying. A door has closed, but perhaps a window has opened.

Before I go though, there's just one other thing I want to touch upon. DATING. Is anyone reading this really good at it? Because if so, I'm willing to hire you to give me lessons. I SUCK at it. Very very very very badly. It never fails that I always seem to say the WRONG things at the WRONG time, and that when I try to express myself, it always just comes out WRONG. I actually met someone whose company I REALLY enjoy. We hung out a few times, and already I seem to have completely fuzzed up EVERYTHING just because I am who I am. I'm not saying I thought we were headed for relationship land, but I really was interested in getting to know this person better and seeing where things might possibly lead.... but no sooner did they start than it seems like they have ended just as quickly. I always seem to speak too much, text too much, or in general just be TOO much. I have literally been sitting on my hands, trying to reel in my excess of communication but it just seems like I always f up. I really liked this person's sense of humor, and I'm totally bummed that again, I seem to have stuck my foot in my mouth and ruined everything. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm totally at a loss here. What did I just say though? I should keep trying... :( I just don't know that this is a horse I WANT to get back on.... regardless though, I have other things to focus on now, and they SHOULD be my focus now anyway. But regardless, I'm still bummed. Harumpf... :(

Playing in powder!!!

2010-06-21T12:05:00.000-04:00

So over the weekend I received my shipment of protein powder that I had ordered from LuckyVitamin.com. I have toyed with the idea of using protein powder for awhile now but I have been hesitant to use it because I wasn't sure how I would like it. In trying to change my diet though, I've noticed that I rely heavily on dairy for protein, and that I have a hard time getting enough into my body. I ordered from LuckyVitamin because the powder I wanted to try was $45 for 2 lbs if you buy directly from the manufacturer's site. From there, it was about $12 cheaper, so I decided to go that route.

I have to say that the product so far has really been great. It's not chalky or gross which I was afraid of, and aside from the taste, I definitely feel better with more protein in my system. I heard about the product from someone who I workout with and so far, I've been really pleased with it. We'll see if maybe the extra protein in my system helps me to keep feeling better. The nice thing about the powder is that it's super easy. I've been making shakes with fruit, a little water, some powder, and a little bit of heavy cream for some easy fat. It really tastes great and has a little bit of everything. If you're someone who does use powder, one of the reasons I wanted to try this one is because it is all natural. I'm assuming that's the reason that it is way more expensive than most powders I've looked at, but I do really like it. If you're interested, you can check it out here.

As far as the eating goes, well, it comes and goes. The crazy days have not been so good, but last week I made some great quasi taco salads that were really good and totally Primal. I used 94/6 ground beef and mixed it with sauteed onions and peppers, and then put that on Romaine lettuce. I put some shredded cheese on the ground beef and then topped that with some garden salsa (I'm a wuss when it comes to spice) and then I added some Trader Jose's guacomole, which added some great fat. It was great tasting and I didn't feel like I was "dieting". This weekend was a little harder though with my first swim meet on Saturday am, a dinner shift at the restaurant on Saturday evening, then a double yesterday with Father's Day literally kicking my butt. Appparently dad's like beer, so our alehouse was swamped for Father's Day and I didn't get to eat the way I would have liked. My choices for meals were good, but I got into the soda fountain again..... no coffee yesterday, but I did drink a lot of soda. I ran for 12 hours straight without a break or sitting down, and the extra sugar helps. I don't know why but it makes me at least keep going. I know it's not good, but I couldn't help it. :( Baby steps... once Thursday comes and I am no longer employed, I have a feeling this will get much easier. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and keep working....

I play the Itsy Bitsy Spider and Murph and Annie have kids... say wha?

2010-06-16T10:44:00.004-04:00

We're all adults here... or at least I'm hoping we are... but anyway, I'm sure we all know the story of the little Itsy Bitsy Spider. The little spider climbs the whole way up the water spout, just to get flushed out. And then what happens? As if once wasn't enough, once the sun comes out, spider turns around AND GOES UP AGAIN! WTF? Didn't Spider learn the first time?! Apparently not. But you know, I sort of feel like the spider today.

I keep saying I'm going to get on track with my diet and things seem to go well. Last week I was rockin' it out, and I wound up actually dropping 2 lbs. And that feat is pretty amazing considering that it was the week directly before "THE week" and I can PMS with the best of them. So I was proud of the fact that I was so motivated and hung so tough, and then, THEN came the weekend. Remember me saying that BEING around food makes it that much harder to resist? Oh yeah. I drank soda, all diet, but still... I stole a few chips from the chip bin, I drank coffee and I had bread. It was like the biggest train wreck of all. And the worst thing, is that the train wreck seemed to run right into Monday when the staff decided to have ice cream sundaes during the staff meeting. It was like my worst nightmare. So, what did I do? I ate it all, and felt incredibly guilty afterwards. INCREDIBLY. I want to succeed, so many people WANT to see ME succeed, but it just seems to keep getting the best of me. In all fairness to myself, this is a horrible time of the year to attempt to change my diet. The end of the year in schools is LITTERED with reasons to cheat. End of the year luncheons, classroom parties, summer birthdays, final staff meetings... etc. etc. etc.

But in all fairness as well, these are EXACTLY the same reasons I NEED to make a lifestyle change right now. I'm not going to do myself any favors by eating all of that junk. Not now and not ever. Is that to say that I can never again enjoy the ocassional coffee and ice cream? No, but it definitely needs to be way more limited than it is now. So, basically I'm starting over, all over again, just like the freakin' spider. I think the important thing in this case, is not to admit defeat per say, but to admit that I've fallen. I've had an accident. Now that I've admitted that I'm not perfect and that I've gotten derailed, I need to get up and put the train back on the track. I just need to keep trying. I will say that I think being away from the restaurant and away from the school will help, but right now I still need to suck it up and keep moving forward. I am making positive changes and I am making some baby steps, but I need to keep going in the right direction. My meals are mostly primal, but I need to now work on eliminating the extras and getting a better balance of carbs/fats/proteins in with the meals. I'm working on purchasing protein powder to help out with that, and I'm working on eliminating all the extra crap.

I think that my cause will be helped immensely by the fact that I will be out of the school after next week, and in fact, I won't ever be returning. As it is, I resigned two weeks ago from my position. I have no new job to go to, no plan. All I know is that I wasn't healthy and I wasn't happy. This job has created some sort of alter personality. I don't feel like myself anymore, and I've become obsessed with work and working and I never have a life. CF is one of the few things I do that I enjoy and when even that started taking a hit, I knew I was in trouble. I haven't been happy with my work for some time, and when the proverbial straw fell, I knew I was done. I'm scared, I'm nervous, but in a weird way, relieved. The pressures of this job, the stress, the long hours, the countless amounts of money, the abuse that I took... gone... all done. I'm hoping that since my stress will be greatly reduced that my need to be a stress eater will also decrease. Stress eating is one of my biggest problem areas, so I know this is sort of a cop out, but hopefully if the stress goes down, so will the eating. I know it doesn't solve the stress eating issue, but for now, maybe it will help.

So, what's the real bottom line here? I f'ed up. I ate a bunch of crap, and I f'ed up. So what am I doing about it? Well, I went to Trader Jose's, I stocked up, I have a meal or two planned this week which I'm hoping I can cook without falling asleep as soon as I get home, and we're going to go a day at a time. I'm looking to have three good days in a row. Yesterday was decent, but not perfect, and today has been better, but again, not perfect. So I'm looking for another good day tomorrow to keep the path rolling. If Jerry keeps putting together workouts like today, I should honestly have no trouble taking weight off.... good lord the man is evil! I swear that today I met the evil love spawn of Murph and Annie. Jerry made us (and I swear, he did make me... he probably would have drug me out of bed had I not shown up) do this (I have not so lovingly named it "Muran")

"Muran"
100 pull-ups
100 box jumps
100 sit ups
1 mile run

I ran the slowest mile EVER today and it blew. I mean, the whole thing blew. There was no niceness about this thing at all, but the mile run, I mean BLEW. If there ever was the blowiest bunch of blow ever, THIS was it. I couldn't get my legs stretched out, I couldn't breathe because I live in the middle of a swamp and after April the humidity spikes to 100% and stays there, and in general, I sucked. Regardless though, I need to give my metabolism a good old fashioned kicked to the bum, so wods like this will definitely help. I just need to hang in there. A few more days, a few more weeks, and life could change dramatically. Just gotta keep on keepin'....

Women who stare at french fries...

2010-06-12T07:20:00.002-04:00

I didn't go see the movie "Men Who Stare at Goats" but the title DID inspire my blog today. I haven't been posting about my wods, just because things have been crazy and honestly, it's kind of boring. I mean, really. Who wants to read about me doing KB swings and 400 m runs and jumping lunges?!? :P (It seems I've been doing a lot of that lately!) Anyway, the whole Primal thing... yeaaaaaaahhhhhh... about that.

I'm not going to lie, I'm not perfect. Not yet, but this week was a much better eating week than I've had in a long time. That's definitely an upside. The downside is that I spent a BOATLOAD of money because I'm trying to eat fresh fruit and trying to eat meat, and trying in general, just to eat healthy. The reality of the matter for this country is that it is way more expensive for us to live a healthy lifestyle than it is for us to eat french fries and get fat. It's sad, but most definitely true. But again, the upside is that I have been doing it. I have not had ANY soda since last Saturday, I have kept myself to LESS than my goal of two coffees in a week, and the only really bad slide I've had was actually yesterday when I was so tired and so cranky and PMS'y (yes that IS a word... I just invented it!) that I just said "F you!" and had ice cream and Tostitos. Do I recommend this as a part of a well balanced Primal diet? Certainly not. But I feel like even with that rather large moment last night, it certainly was a moment, I managed to stay at least relatively close to the 80/20.

I wrote down everything I ate this week, and that certainly helped me to see patterns in my eating, and it also helped to keep me legit. The only problem is that I know I forgot things, mainly because I've been so busy, it's almost be like writing an after action report. One thing I need to try to do is write immediately after eating something so I don't forget the little tiny details. Did I snag a chip at work? Did I snag a piece of the dark chocolate? Writing things down is important and that's one thing I still need to work on.

While going through this week though, I have to admit that one thing that REALLY helped me was the fact that I WASN'T in the restaurant this week. Because swim team practices run from 430-630 it's not really feasible for me to work shifts during the week right now, which leaves me with just my weekend shifts there. Not being around the food definitely helped to keep me from eating it. Last Sunday when I started my shift to clean eating, I was on a double at the restaurant. For those of you who have never been in restaurant work, it means you work the lunch shift, maybe or maybe not have a break, and then roll into dinner shift. This also means that for the majority of the day, I was on the expo line staring at the food, especially the french fries.

As an eater, one of my downfalls is that I love, and I mean LOVE carbs. If it's a potato or a piece of bread, GIMME. So, since all of our sandwiches happen to be served with french fries, it means we have a lot of those around. While standing on the expo line, I literally was staring at them and SALIVATING. I wanted to eat them so badly it was ridiculous. I had managed to escape for about an hour between shifts and had hit Trader Joe's with a baby of a shopping run, but I had managed to grab a few things I could munch on when the desire got REALLY bad. Staring at those fries was like torture. But it was also a test. I KNOW that if I'm going to do this, I'm going to be presented with all sorts of situations like this and if I give in EVERY time I just want to EAT something because it looks good, I'm never going to win here. I'm never going to be able to lose weight and accomplish my goals. So, I stared at the french fries. And I stared, and I stared and I stared. And eventually the shift ended, and eventually I got to eat the right food before going home.

Did it feel good to do what I did? Yes and no. I'm glad that I did not just begin housing french fries up and down the expo line like some sort of derranged psychotic. Yes, I feel very good about that. Did it feel good to be presented with a situation where I had to sit and stare at something I couldn't eat? Absolutely not. But that's reality. That's going to happen in lots of places, and I need to start building up that resolve and start building that determination NOT to eat things I know I shouldn't. Is it easy? God NO! I wanted to shove those things in my mouth and house those b*tches! But I didn't.

In the long run, avoiding places where you know food will be a temptation is by far the better way to go. However, having said that, you can't ignore every social invitation because you know there will be beer/pizza/cake/ice cream/chips/non-Primal/Paleo food. If you're going to go, go prepared. There are some feasible solutions. First and foremost, set limits. If you know you're going to drink or eat unhealthy items, set a limit for yourself. If it's beer, maybe it's 2 or 3. If it's food, maybe a handful or a plateful. Try to keep it sensible.

If it is a party situation, ask the host politely if you can either bring your own, or if they can provide a healthy alternative for you. I know that as someone who has tried to lose weight, this is something I would be very hip to and it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. If it is an 'outting' situation, perhaps suggest to go somewhere that has a menu with at least a few options that are ok for you, or at the very least, while not the BEST choices, are better than say pizza and french fries. If you're going to drink, go with Red wine,or spirits EXCEPT RUM. The higher the proof, the less sugar there is in a paticular spirit, but Rum tends to have some sugar added to it. Not to mention the fact that it's derived from cane sugar or molasses. *Side note though, this does NOT include the flavored vodkas. C'mon guys, use the noggin'.* Your best bet would be to do with with Cran or OJ, or water. Again, not perfect, but far better than throwing back 4-5 beers with way more carbs and way less nutritional value. At least you get a LITTLE something from those. Hey I said LITTLE.

Your best bet is most definitely to keep things away from you. You're far less likely then to go on a bender. But if you're like me and you WORK around these things, then unfortunately, you just gotta suck it up. You've got to tap deep into that resolve and become a woman, or man, who stares at french fries. It is feasible. It is possible, but just like the box, you gotta put the work in. It's not magic, and it's not just going to poof and go on it's own. You've got to put your foot down and say, enough is enough. Become a woman or man who STARES at the french fries. Whatever you do, DON'T EAT THEM!

The view from the bottom...

2010-06-05T21:39:00.006-04:00

A little over two years ago, I decided that there were things about my life that needed to change. I didn't like what I saw for myself, and I decided that things were going to be different. I was going to alter the course of my life. And so, with much gusto and vigor and determination (that all important #3 from the list) I did. I followed the Zone principles and was a steadfast student. I was certainly not 100% perfect, but in the end, I was doing a great job of changing my diet and losing weight and fat. I was getting healthy. I was stopping the downward spiral.

With all of my dietary progress, progress in the gym happened too. It was a natural side effect it would seem. Once my diet improved, so did my workouts. An old friend referred to me as "a poster child for CF" and the types of changes that hard work and a good diet could make. At my very lowest, I had dropped a whopping 25 lbs. 25 lbs!!!! That's a whole plate that I literally eliminated from my body. It was amazing. It was life changing. I was so stoked about what I had done that I shared it with everyone. I talked to others about changing their diet, not because I wanted to be pushy, but because I was that excited about what had happened that I wanted other people to have the same experience. It was terrific.

Flash forward to the present day. All that weight that I have lost, has returned, with a vengance, with gusto... dare I even say with determination? And now the girl who two years ago was standing atop a pedestal shouting about how great life was, is now slinking along someone at the base of it, trying hard not to be noticed. I keep asking myself how this happened? How did things slide this far? I know that regardless of the "how's" and the "why's", it happened. I can see it, I can feel it, I can tell when I put my clothes on. I'm not just being hard on myself, I'm not just imagining some water weight, it's full on there.

It's incredibly disheartening to know that just a short time ago, I was in a completely different place than I am now. But, broken hearts, busy schedules, lack of energy... all these things seemed to team up to conspire against me, and now here I sit. The former poster child of CF and good nutrition is a washup. An old hag, a has been. I no longer stand on my pedestal shouting about the benefits of eating clean. I now slink along the bottom of the pedestal with a brownie in my hand, hoping and praying that everyone just THINKS it's a Paleo muffin. I'm the girl who spends the majority of her time when she is in her home sleeping because that's just how little she's there. I'm now the girl who eats out almost every night because I have no energy to cook. I've become that which I swore I would never be again. Defeat. It has won.

So what now? I am sure I'm not the only person who has ever gone through this, and I'm sure that I will not be the last. But the question remains. When you hit the bottom, when you look up one day and realize, "Oh shit. This IS the bottom of the barrel." what do you do? I'm sure that there are many people out there who get frustrated and give up. They pull the old, "I'll never get back down there again *sigh*" and continue on being unhealthy. But there is an aternative. There is another way. #3.

I will be honest, I know that hitting my goal for weight loss is going to be hard. I never thought it was going to be easy, but now, I'm slowly becoming more determined. The mental aspect of losing weight has held me back more times than I can count in the past several months. My heart is always in the right place but after about a week, my mental focus wanes. I'm spent mentally and physically from working so much and things not on the "good" list, suddenly have become much more appealing. The more I stare at myself, the more unhappy I am with what I see. I see someone who had a really good thing going for her, and f'ed it all to hell and back. So, now it's sheer determination. I'm determined to get this weight off, and get back on that horse!

Like I said above, I know I'm not the only person to ever go through this, and I'm sure I'm not the only person to be at the bottom and have to look up at this mountainous task that needs tackling. I'm positive of that. The view from the bottom can be daunting, but if you're a CF'er rely on #3. If you can tackle Murph, if you can make it through Cindy, if you can tackle Fran without batting an eye, you can do this. You just need to treat it the same way. I know that this task for me will not come easily, and I will slip. Just like I did when climbing up that hill at regionals with a sandbag. I slipped in the mud and ocassionally I had to stop and rest. I may slip, but eventually I will get up there. I just need to be determined and I need to stick to it.

Getting started is the hard part. Change is hard, especially when you already have that little voice in the back of your head telling you "You did it once and look what happened." Damn, that little voice is annoying and for a long time, I've been shutting her up with cookies and Starbucks. But now it's time to change. I don't WANT to slink around the bottom of that pedestal embarassed anymore. I want to stand on it once more and say, "Look. I'm human, and I did it once and then got too loose with my diet. But now here I am again. You CAN do it."

Diet sucks. I'm not going to lie. For a very long time food has been my nemesis and I thought I had tackled a lot of my issues, but from how I look now and the things that have happened, it's clear that I haven't. So, the washed up poster girl is headed for makeover central. I have a goal in mind. I want to hit that goal in roughly 3 months. (It's still early enough in June that I feel like I have the whole month of June.) So, my goal is to do this the smart and healthy way. It is to shed the weight over a period of time and hit my target weight by August 31. I know that in order to reach my goal, I am also going to need to get back to the box more. I've been going 4 days a week with the goal of getting back to 5 but working as much as I have been has flat out tired me out. With summer coming soon, I'm hoping to have more energy to devote to the box and getting in there more frequently. With no school, and more flexibility in my schedule, that should help since I don't HAVE to get up at 0400 to get to the 0515 class.

So, the view from the bottom sucks, but to get up I have set a goal for myself, which I didn't do before, and I have to set some paramaters. A friend really wants me to go Paleo, but I don't think I can do that, and I don't think I want to. I like to eat Greek yogurt or cottage cheese and fruit, and with a strict Paleo diet, you are supposed to eliminate dairy. I understand that dairy is not something that existed in caveman times, but really?!?! Milk and cheese are bad for me? That seems like a bit of a stretch to me. This is why I like Primal instead. I feel like it's a little more sensible (for me and my crazy life anyway) with most of the same Paleo ideals and I can still eat some of the things I like. Sisson also is a big believer in the 80/20, which I agree with. I know I'm not going to be perfect 100% of the time, and if I think that, I'm setting myself up for failure, because I know the second I cheat I'm going to feel guilty, and associating food with guilt is never a good start to a healthy food relationship.

So, I think I'm going to begin to follow the Primal diet again, and I'm going to work hard to eat as clean as I can. If I fall off I'm not going to beat myself up, but I'm going to immediately get back on with the next meal. I'm going to do my best to eliminate soda completely (and IMMEDIATELY) which will be hard but is something I have been trying to do for some time now. I know that that is one of the single worst things I've been doing to myself, even more so than sugary snacks or processed food.

Soda is nothing but sugar in a can, and I could probably eat the same and eliminate that and still lose weight! That's how bad that is for you! Not that I'm going to do that though because this is about more than soda, but it's one of the things I know I need to do. Even drinking diet (for those of you who argue that it's about the calories) is not good for you because your body still believes that you are getting sugar and prepares your insulin response. Then lo and behold your body is like, "WTF mate?" and there is no sugar, but still a lot of insulin. Soooo I'm ditching the soda all together. I'm also going to have to greatly reduce my Starbucks intake. My goal initially is to go to 2/wk. (From 7/wk, that's a big step, so please don't judge.) That's still a lot I know, but I'm going to have to wean myself off. I really like coffee.

As part of my goals, I'm going to log what I eat. I did this before with my blog, but that became too hard. If I didn't get to write a blog that day I would sometimes forget what or how much I ate, and if I wrote earlier in the day, then I would have to go in later and edit and adjust and that was just a pain. So I'm keeping a journal. I also started to do this once before, but dropped off after a few days, but now, this matter is more pressing. It's more than just the proverbial five pounds I wanted to lose before. This is more of a serious health risk here. So, I'm going to be logging what I eat in my journal and I'm going to have to stick with it. I'm sure it will be interesting to see after the week what sort of trends I have.

So, if you want to join in on this journey with me, hop on. I'll be blogging and sharing as I have in the past. This time feels a bit different though. It is feeling closer to the way it felt the first time I lost weight than it has in a long time. I have a mindset, I have goals, I have things I want to achieve. It's not going to be easy, in fact I'll wager it's going to be harder this time. But I have a system I want to follow, I have a goal in mind, and I've already set parameters for myself. In the back of my head, I have also set mini goals, markers, along the way. As I reach each of those mini goals, there is a reward attached, as well as a reward for the final goal. They're not food related (they are totally material) but when I reach said points, I will reward myself for the hard work I've done, and continue to encourage myself to do more. I'm not going to tell you what those rewards are because they are girlie and really silly, but let's just say they are things that every girl would like to have.

The view from the bottom sucks, it really does. But the only way to get to the top is by starting to climb. I'm starting. I hope I packed the right gear, but if not, let's hope that along the way I pass some other climbers who will be willing to lend a hand. It's a journey I'm about to start, and it's time to get moving.

What does it take to be a CrossFitter?

2010-06-03T20:06:00.000-04:00

Getting to the keyboard and hammering out some thoughts is something that has taken a bit of a backburner these days. Swimming has started again and school is still ongoing, and serving is still challenging me as well. I've got a lot on my plate and unfortunately my blog has taken a hit. I have learned, finally, that sometimes when life gets this hectic, you have to let some things go. It's not that you really want to, but for sanity's sake and the sake of other projects and needs, you have to.

This doesn't mean that I have managed to stop thinking about blogs though, or that I've stopped having thoughts. Lord no! I have those, and plenty of them on a daily basis. But since life has yet again gotten retarded kinds of crazy, I just don't always get a chance to get my thoughts out. But recently I've been thinking a lot about being a CF'er. Not only that I got to thinking about what it takes to BE a CrossFitter. When there are tons of obstacles in your way, what keeps you going? What do you need to have in order to be a CrossFitter?

1. Patience- I think we've all been in that place where we want results to come and we want them to come fast. Or we want to be better at things, and we want to be better, RIGHT NOW. Unfortunately though, that can't happen. As CrossFitters, we need to understand the value of patience for those things but we also need to understand the value of patience when life gets in the way. The boss called a late/early meeting and messed up the wod. You blew a flat tire and didn't make the wod. You got sick/injured and missed a week. Boss burdened you with a new project due in 4 days. PATIENCE. These things will fade, a new day will come. Breathe. Tomorrow is a new opportunity to hit the box, and get what you want out of your workout. It will eventually get here. Be patient.

2. Pain tolerance- Lots of things we do are fun and we do them because they are fun. While we're doing them we don't really pay much attention to the other things that are going on because we're having fun. But sometimes, sometimes the things we do really super suck. They hurt like crazy and we want to lay on the floor and just die. It isn't fun. But if you're going to be a CF'er, you need to understand that there are both kinds of days. Be ready for the fun, but be ready for the pain too. And to help with the pain, make a tennis ball and your foam roller your new BFFs!

3. Determination- My dad always used to tell me that if it were easy, everyone would do it. It didn't matter what the "it" was, but whatever it was, if it was easy, then everyone would do it. Clearly we know CF isn't easy, so we know that not everyone IS doing it. But that means then that CF is HARD. Which means, it's going to take some work. It's going to take some grit, some guts, and some sticktoittiveness. Yeah, that's right, I just made up my own word. Sticktoittiveness. Like a mamma bear would fight for her cub, you may have to fight to get it right. Again, doesn't matter what the "it" is. It might be snatches, cleans, jerks, air squats, pull-ups, mu's... doesn't matter. Many of the things we do in CF take that tenacity. That determination to muddle through. So by all means, whatever you do, DON'T GIVE UP!

4. Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em- There is a fine line between a suck it up type of pain, and an injury type of pain. As CF'ers we learn to walk that line very well. Sometimes though, we may get a toe or two over that line. But yet, it seems like with CF'ers we are all so full of #2 and #3 above, that we seem to forget that an injury is our body telling us to slow down. With CF, you need to know when to push, and you need to know when to back off. While your head may be saying "Go for it!", you've got to slam the break on every now and again. If you want to live to WOD another day, this knowledge may be what keeps you from getting a serious injury. If you drop a wod, or scale a wod, this does not make you a p*ssy. It makes you smarter and stronger because you will be able to wod again. The guy down the room trying to grit through everything, may not. Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. It's a very valuable lesson... so valuable in fact that Willie even put it into a song. ;)

5. An understanding of life- It seems like as CF'ers we want every WOD to be perfect, every time to be fast, and we want to be 100% all the time. I'm learning, albeit very slowly, that sometimes, you're going to go through the slump. You're going to go through the times when life is kicking you while you're down, and things at the box just aren't going the way you'd like. But here's where #3 comes in. Determination. Be determined to get to the box and do the best you can. Be determined that when life settles down again, that you will continue to push and get back to where you want to be. Don't let up because things got you down. Just keep moving. Or as Dori likes to say, "Just keep swimming." However, regardless of whether or not you keep swimming, understand that you CANNOT speak whale. :P

6. A sense of humor- Guys, CF should be fun. If it's not, why are you doing it? You already have a job, or if you're like me, 3. Why do you need or for that matter WANT another one? If your WOD has started to feel like a job, reevaluate. What can you change? What can you do differently? How can you make it enjoyable again? After regionals, I lost the fun part. Now, I'm slowly regaining my desire, slowly regaining my sense of fun, and slowly regaining my sense as part of the family. It got lost for a minute and I had to readjust the sites. My scope was a wee bit off. So, if you find yourself losing sight of things, don't be afraid to take a step back and reevaluate. It's ok. It should be fun, and you should be able to laugh a time or two while you're in the box. Cause I mean, after all, how can you not laugh when I mention snatches? ;)

So the question remains, do you have what it takes to be a CrossFitter? If so, then get some!

Suckin' wind...

2010-05-25T10:21:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, I had a chance to do something that I haven't done in awhile... a SATURDAY WOD! Saturday's are always busy around CFOT, but for me it's a hard day to get in because of work at the restaurant. This weekend I still had to hurry out the door to get to work, but I was glad I got to hit some weekend fun with the 0830 crew.

Our first wod was a 1RM push press. I didn't feel super strong, but I still managed to put up 125X1. I tried 135 but it just didn't happen. I think honestly that my lower back still being so sore is causing me to do some funky things. I'm trying to compensate by adjusting and moving differently and I don't think that's a good thing. Anyway, I'm going to go get it checked out soon, but for the time being it is what it is.

After the push press came the real fun. We did this wod a LOOOONG time ago. We hit this when we were still back in the Blue Room, so you know it's been over a year... but anyway, it's called Tail Pipe. I think it's aptly named since it feels like you're sucking fumes by the end, but anyway, it's a good challenging finisher. If you like finishers that burn, this one is good for you.

You need a partner though so don't try to do this alone, unless you give yourself a time frame for the second part. Start on the rower and row 250 meters. While you are rowing, your parter takes 2 KB and holds them in the rack, with your elbows out. As you row, your partner's job is to hold those bells. Don't put them down! Once you have rowed your meters, trade places. Do this for 3 rounds. It sucks. Regardless, it was good dirty fun! I'm glad I got to get in for some Saturday fun!

You want me to DEADLIFT?!?!?!

2010-05-20T10:22:00.002-04:00

After the CF regional games, I took a week off from CF to recover. Pulling a 300 lb deadlift PR was pretty awesome, but it also took a toll on my back. Being in a competition setting, I was more concerned with getting the weight up than I was with whether or not I was endangering myself. I was hurting the next day during the Chipper and I was hurting for a few days after. I'm not in severe pain now, but I'm noticing that especially when I bend over, my back is still pretty tight. What's odd (to me) is that it's only on one side, my left. I'm not sure if that's indicative of anything, but it seems that the tightness is only on the left side. Weird, but true.

When I saw the DL wod come up yesterday, I was a little intimidated. I won't lie. I really was just thinking that MAYBE I shouldn't go. But after yet another terrible meeting at school, I decided that it was a necessity. I needed to get into the box and throw some things around. I NEEDED it to be FUN. So, I decided to hit the box. Despite the fact that I was still feeling a smidgen tight, I decided to hit the DL wod, but scale back on the weight. Recommended for the wod was 80-85% of your 1RM. I was a little bit under that but not by much. The wod looked like this.

Every 3 minutes for 7 rounds
DL x 2
80-85% of your 1RM

I have to say that this actually felt pretty easy. I know you're thinking well "Duh, you scaled" but seriously, DL's NEVER feel easy for me. I mean, even though 200 is 100lbs less than my PR, it NEVER feels like it goes up easy. Yesterday I decided to go with 225 and it actually felt like it went up easy. For me, that was a big shock. I was trying extra extra hard to drive my weight through my heels and keep myself from pulling too much on my back, and I felt like I did a pretty good job of that. The 7th round I felt myself start to round a bit as I was getting tired, but overall I think I did a much better job than I normally do with keeping my back flat and my weight back.

I keep thinking back to a wod we did a few months ago where the programmed weight was 185 and I felt like it was soooo heavy that I couldn't budge it off the floor and I was totally pulling on my back every rep. This wod yesterday actually felt pretty good and I'm amazed that it was so different from just a few months ago. I don't know if maybe I was tired or sore that day or what, but this felt soooo much better than that last wod.

Unfortunately I set my alarm last night but failed to turn it on, so I won't be able to hit the box today. But I will be back tomorrow and Saturday. Two strength wods in a week is great but I'm feeling incredibly fat as I'm stress eating again big time, and I need to get my cardio back up. It was rough before sectionals and I havne't done myself any favors.... soooooo back to the box tomorrow and Saturday to get some work in.

Oh, I forgot to mention the best part of the WOD yesterday... our "after party" as Jerry has taken to calling the extra work was a waiter's walk. Pick your distance and KB or DB and walk 400, 600, or 800 m with a KB or DB locked out in active shoulder over your head. I chose a 45 lb KB and hit the 800 M walk. It was actually not as bad as I thought, but I struggled because I didn't want to drop the KB on the road or sidewalk. I got lots of strange looks from cars/buses/people walking by which kind of made me laugh. They seriously thought I was INSANE. It was FUN! :) And the good news is that the only part of my arms that hurt are where the KB was resting again my arm. That's a bit tender today, but other than that, I feel ok, minus the tweaky back.... but that doesn't count. I'm totally bummed that due to my alarm clock fail I miss the filthy fifty today, but like I said... back to the box tomorrow!!!!! :)

Are you there God? It's me Katie...

2010-05-18T10:43:00.005-04:00

After I sat down and thought for a moment, I had to change the title of this post. It seems that the last two years for me have been years frought with extreme highs and extreme lows. I suppose that's how life really goes, but it'd be nice if life would sort of float on an even keel for awhile. Regardless though, I really feel like I'm at a crossroads in my life. All of the frustrations that were mounting before sectionals and regionals had a lot to do with work. Cf for so long had been an escape from my frustrations with my job that when it became more than just a release, it stopped being fun. It started to become another source of ADDED stress, the exact opposite of what I needed. Now that regionals are gone, I'm feeling the weight of that stressor gone, but unfortunately still not the others.

As I sit less than a week away from my 28th birthday, I am forced to admit that I am not happy with my life. When I was younger I of course had the idylic dreams of the terrific and fabulous life I'd be leading all by the tender age of 26. Somewhere in there, dreams and reality never quite met up but I still always thought that I'd love the life I had regardless of whether or not it was what I thought it would be when I was younger. Lately though, I've been realizing that not only do I not like my life, I pretty much despise some aspects of it.

I have always thought that hard work was the answer to everything and never shied away from that. Hard work got me through the first few months of CF. Hard work brought progress. Hard work kept me afloat financially. Hard work has helped me make lots of friends in lots of places. Hard work has helped me get things done and meet deadlines. But now, hard work means no time for myself. No time for my family. No time for friends. No time to find someone to share my life with. It means having no time to do things that I enjoy. It means always missing the party.

Somewhere along the line, hard work ceased to be a quality and it overtook me. I'm not saying I desire to turn into a fat, lazy, slug who never moves from her couch, but I'd love to find a job that I enjoy. I'd love to find a job where I can leave at 5 or 6 o'clock and know that for the day, my work is DONE. I don't know if I can make anyone understand what it's like to be at work at the restaurant and have to run through a list of things that need to get done at school the next day before the kids get there because you couldn't get them done today because you couldn't stay late. Or how frustrating it is to leave at 800 at night and STILL not be done with everything you're expected to do. Or how utterly deflating it is to put all you have into your work, and still be asked to do more.

Teacher burnout typically occurs within the first five years. I'm on year 5 and I'm there. This isn't fun. This isn't enjoyable. And I'm tired of feeling guilty because I don't spend 25 hours a day doing school things. I'm tired of people trying to MAKE me feel guilty for that. I need to change. I need out and it needs to happen before the stress levels seriously impact my health. But, the problem is, I don't know how to go about doing that or what to change to. I've been asking a lot of folks what they think I could do with a teaching degree and I've gotten lots of different answers. I've gotten lots of different suggestions for possibilities and lots of different criticisms for wanting to leave too. Some think me leaving is taking the easy way out. Some think it's a good thing. I think for now, I think it's necessary. I just want to have a life. I want to enjoy being me. I think it's fair to say that I don't even think that I've felt like myself much of the last few years. The only times I'm ever myself are the two months that I'm NOT teaching. That's not the kind of life I want for myself.

In coming to all of these realizations, I've also had to come to grips with how utterly scared to death I am. Again, young and having dreams, I thought I'd find a school I loved and retire from there after 30 years. Unfortunately, that's not the case, and now I'm terrified. Terrified of being stuck somewhere where I am this unhappy and terrified that things won't get better. Terrified that I won't be able to find a way out. Terrified that I will never get back to being me.

So why am I sharing this? Because.... it's my blog and I'll ramble if I want to? Partially. But also because again, if someone else feels the same way I do, and reading this makes them feel like someone understands, the typing was worth it. I have come to the conclusion, after several seemingly mindless chats with the Big Man, that being scared is ok. The Great Unknown, or Unknowable, is scary. It's terrifying to realize your life isn't going the way you want. But, I think in his own way, the Big Man has tried to tell me, it's ok and that I need to keep pushing forward. I need to finish out this year, and then seriously examine what I want to do and where I want to go.

I'm not someone who is huge on religion, and I'm not someone who, until recently, would have even mentioned this topic in a blog, but lately the Big Man and I have started to chat. Well, I chat. He listens. Or at least I think he does. He's kinda busy so I'm sure all the mindless chatter doesn't get through, but I think most of it does. Anyway, I'm not saying that I'm encouraging everyone to go pick up a Bible and get Jesafied, but I'm of the belief nowadays that it can't be a bad thing just to talk. Most parents in the world I think would agree that sometimes, they just want to talk to their kids. Good, bad, or indifferent talk, it's just nice to hear their voice.

I think that sometimes, just by talking, even without response, we figure things out just because we had a chance to spill our guts and admit lots of stuff. And who better to admit your guts to than someone who won't judge and who won't ever share? If you're not a Big Man kind of person, ok, then write. Get it out. Write that you're scared or terrified, or heartbroken, or lonely or whatever you're feeling. I guarantee you will feel better just by getting it out there. I'll admit, when I first started talking to the Big Man, I felt like an idiot. I wasn't sure I was doing it right and I wasn't sure if he was listening or understood. I very much felt like the main character in "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret." But regardless, I think the important thing was that I tried, and that I was putting myself out there. I find that I like to picture the Big Man in cargo shorts, a CF shirt and flip flops, and that helps immensely too. I think it just makes him easier to relate to, and seem less overwhelming. Right or wrong, it helps me relax and get thoughts out. And usually, after some sharing, I've found that I'm feeling better and have even found an answer or two, all just because I let it out.

I'm working my way through things, but unfortunately, I think this is going to be a very long process. I think I have a lot to figure out. I've written posts along similar lines before, but things are even more strained now than before. The need for a solution is more pressing. How things are going to wind up, I don't know. But I know that I am going to get back to CF. I'm going to find a way to make it fun again. Find a way to get off these few extra pounds, and find a way to get back on track with what I want. I know I CAN do it. I just need to find the way. So hang in there folks. I have a feeling this ride is going to get a little crazy.

But what CAN I do?

2010-05-14T09:38:00.002-04:00

A lot of my thoughts pertaining to CrossFit have a lot to do with perspective and keeping it. With CrossFit being such a badass, hard, tough, competitive arena, I find it very easy to lose sight of things. It's really easy to get down on myself. Especially after the thorough trouncing a took this weekend at the games, it's easy to feel like I don't belong in this community. I dnf'd two out of four wods, one of which I couldn't even attempt as rx'd. I nearly came in last in another wod, and the fourth wod placed me very close to the top 10 girls in our region. So, this sort of leaves me with a very defeated feeling. It does feel like I can't do anything, but I know that's not true. So the question is then, what CAN I do?

If you're like me, sometimes when life hands you lemons, you tend to focus on the lemons instead of the pretty kickass lemondae you can make with them (especially if you add a little vodka... DEEEEEE-LICIOUS.... but you didn't hear that from me). I've been trying lately to keep focusing on things that I can do... focus on the positive sides to things. (I SAID TRYING!!! GEEZ!) So in keeping with that idea that there is good in every situation, instead of focusing on all the things I CAN'T do, I thought I'd focus on some things that I can do. I gave myself a pretty stern talking to, and here is the list that I came up with... it may not contain muscle ups but there are some other pretty cool things on that list.

Things Katie CAN do...

1. On a good day, I can manage to contain a classroom full of 26 8 year olds and teach them something
2. On a good day, I can manage to corral a pool full of hormonal high school teenagers and convince them to swim a few laps.
3. I can multitask with the best of them
4. I'm great at selling beer
5. I can work a 70 hour work week
6. I can make someone smile by sending them a card or present for no reason at all
7. I can inspire someone else to finish hard
8. I can drive stick
9. Even though I suck at running, I CAN run 13 miles when I put my mind to it
10. I can make you laugh with my ridiculous sense of humor, and my ability to speak in a language full of made up words and "Katieisms"
11. I can complete CrossFit wods (they may not always be fast, but I have this no quitting rule)
12. I can send emails with attachments, write a blog, create a power point, make a Smart Board lesson, and type a word document without making my head explode or calling a support tech
13. I can be proud and support someone else's athletic endeavor
14. I can love you like nobody's business... you may not want it, and you may not give it in return, but you'll never doubt whether or not I care about you.
15. I can look back at my CrossFit career and know that I have come a long way... baby...
16. I can sing on key, and actually pretty darn well
17. I can walk and chew gum at the same time
18. I can use Google with the best of them
19. I'm not afraid to work hard and I can do it
20. I can forgive
21. I can say "I'm sorry"
22. I can say "I was wrong"
23. I can stop and ask for directions
24. I can put someone else first
25. I can remind you that you can do things too....

Katie on: The CrossFit Central East Regionals

2010-05-10T13:53:00.004-04:00

The one that got away... I was very close to finishing this Chipper wod... I just couldn't get through the swings fast enough to get back to the box jumps...

When I wrote my recap on the DC/VA/WVA sectionals, I was riding high after a great weekend. I loved the wods that they pulled out for our sectional, aside from the weighted Cindy, and I felt like Maggie and Jeff literally ran a flawless competition. The wods were running like clock work, they provided a relaxation space with water and nutrition bars, and I felt that for the most part, standards were upheld. Were there mistakes made, absolutely. When dealing with humans, you will have a certain percentage of human error. But overall, I thought they did a great job.

Not to mention, with the sectional being so close to us, CFOT took a huge amount of competitors. With such a large team there, not to mention our supporters, it was a terrific environment to compete in. There was so much support from everyone that I literally felt loved doing the sectional. It was well organized, well thought out, and I really felt that they did a good job. There was definitely a lot of stress for me leading up to the competition, especially the late release of the wods, but I still enjoyed it once things got moving. I really had a great experience with the sectionals.

This past weekend though, I can't say I had that same feel good experience with the Central East Regional. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people feel the same way I do. Somewhere between sectionals and regionals for me, this stopped being fun. I think that there were a combination of factors involved in that change, but the fact still remains that lately, I haven't been enjoying CF. The sectional for us was so taxing that it literally took me nearly 4 weeks to recover. It was brutal. That left only about 2 weeks until the regional. I cut it a bit close and to then turn around and do everything all over again simply wasn't fun for me. I love CF and everything it has given me and done for me, but this experience is not one that I enjoyed.

Aside from the fact that I was burnt out, I saw a lot of issues at our regional. Our regional was held outside in May, in a Mid- Atlantic state. I understand that the average temperature for states like Ohio and PA is close to 70 at about this time of year. However, that's the average. And one thing that people did not take into account I don't think is that weather in the Mid-Atlantic states in April/May is EXTREMELY finicky. I lived in PA for 23 years, trust me on this. It snows in April sometimes! Getting back on track though, they decided to host an outdoor event, but one which provided no shelter for any of the athletes. Why? I understand that some will say that as CF'ers we should be prepared for anything. Ok, I'll give you that. True. But the Ohio sectional was AT THE ARNOLD. How did we go from such an awesome venue, to the middle of nowhere without any type of shelter or protection for athletes? That alone made things very hard on everyone. Friday was 80 degrees, Saturday was 50 with 40 MPH wind gusts and cloud cover. Imagine trying to do a muscle up in that. Yeah guys, I get it. Ready for anything, but let's be honest. I think there is probably a venue that would have been a better choice for this and would have allowed everyone to have a much better experience. I understand that part of the reason this was chosen had to do with the large hill and trail run. I understand that logic, but I think more than JUST the wods needs to be taken into account for something like this.

The weather of course was one thing that bothered me about this experience, but the wods in general bothered me a bit. I understand the first wod. They wanted that to be a seperator. That makes perfect sense. What I didn't get was WOD #3, the max deadlift. I didn't think that a max deadlift was a great choice. I feel like that is nothing but strength. Why not choose a max snatch or max OHS? Those are more complex than a deadlift, and I feel they would be a more accurate reflection of someone's ability to master the different domains. I understand that you want a metcon vs. strength component, but there has got to be a better way to do that. Max efforts are fun to watch, and I think making them a part of the games is exciting. However, I think there is probably another lift that is a little bit better than a max DL. While I did pull a PR of #300 lbs in the competition and did very well in that wod, I still feel like there could have been something out there that would have been a better choice. Furthermore, I didn't understand the idea of putting the deadlift before a long chipper. I guess they were thinking you need to fight through, but putting KB swings after a max deadlift didn't seem like a good idea. I know that it f'ed my back up, so I'm wondering if it did anyone else? I know I was one of only a handful to DNF that chipper wod, so obviously others fought through, but from a training/programming standpoint, that seems very dangerous to me.

In addition, from an athlete's perspective, it appeared that our region was very disorganized. The odd release (in the comments section of a post) of the standards video, and the lack of a release of an affiliate standards video seemed very off to me. Further, the late heat release of the individuals also made it appear that the organizers didn't have everything together. Perhaps Maggie and Jeff did such a great job with the sectionals that anyone would look disorganized by comparison, I don't know. But from an athlete standpoint, it appeared that our region wasn't well organized. Maybe they really were and it just came off that way, but from a competitor standpoint, I was very frustrated. I understand that putting on something of this magnitude is hard, but when you assume that responsibility, I think you need to make sure that you are making things user friendly, and that you are dotting your i's and crossing your t's. It just didn't seem like our region did that in all areas. Saturday was cold and miserable and as soon as we were done, we left. We were never told via email or online what time to arrive the next day or what heats would be. It just made things more uncertain than they needed to be.

What was especially bothersome to me though was the failure on the part of the region staff to think through their scoring system for the first wod. The region announced that they would allow people to sub the first WOD with the understanding that anyone who didn't complete the MU's could not advance to the games. Got it. That makes perfect sense. But what was not explained was how they would score anyone who didn't do the MU's. Now, I understand that some people may say, "Well if you're not completing the wod and you can't advance, what does it matter?", well in reality, in the grand scheme of the advancement, it doesn't. But I still trained and I want to do well, so it should be fair. So, what was not known in advance was that if you spent the whole time on muscle ups, you would place higher than anyone who did the sub. And if you just started at the sub because you knew you didn't have any muscle ups, then you couldn't score higher than someone who literally stood there for 15 minutes and just jumped on the rings. I also know for a fact that there was a girl who did jumping ring dips (and they weren't even actually dips), who scored higher than I did in the standings because she completed more reps. WTF? I don't understand how that worked, AT ALL. Regardless of whether or not I'm going to move to the finals for the games, I want things to be scored fairly and I want my final standing to be an accurate reflection of how I did. Did I do very well? Ha, no but regions managed to pull out EVERYTHING I suck at... so truthfully should I be much higher? No, not really. But should it still be fair? ABSOFREAKINLUTELY. And I know if it wasn't fair for me, then it also wasn't fair for other folks.

I know that it sounds like I'm complaining and that nothing good came out of this weekend, but that's not true. There were plenty of good parts. I competed, period, the end. That in and of itself is great. I had some really great judges to help me through. (Thank you volunteers!) I deadlifted a PR by 25 lbs and hit 300. That's awesome. I spent some time with amazingly fit people and had a terrific time with great teammates. I, a shitty shitty runner, completed a trail run that was uphill. I didn't do it very fast, or beat many people, but I did it! Holy determination Batman! Those parts of the experience were great. But on the flipside, I'm an athlete who is very frustrated. I did train, amidst an INSANE schedule, and I was just bothered by what I saw. It left a sour taste in my mouth, and just made me question whether or not this is something I want to do again. I know competition isn't for everyone, and maybe I'm one of those people who it's not good for. I don't know. I have a lot to ponder (and work on) before next year rolls around.

Having said that though, I'm incredibly proud of myself for the effort I did put forth this weekend, and I'm proud of myself for fighting through things that are most definitely not my strengths. Funny but true, deadlifts are my weakest lift, I suck at running, can't do muscle ups, and the only thing I'm really good at that they pulled out were cleans! So, for a girl who sucks at everything they pulled, I did really well. My only real disappointment came from that last wod. My back was so tight from the deadlifts that I couldn't move through the KB swings in the chipper. It was in knots and hurt immensely. I'm still having trouble bending and moving, and I don't want to even ATTEMPT to pick up or carry anything right now.

So, what does this rambling bunch of mish mash mean? Well, it means that I'm not real thrilled with the region as a whole, but I'm glad I did the event. I know that they did do a lot of work, but I wish that it just would have been done a little differently. We are most definitely sending our top athletes to the games though, and there is no doubt about that. Those women were freaking phoenomenal! Regardless though of what all the other women did, I'm proud of myself because I've proved that I can grit through a lot of really shitty stuff, and that deadlift wod proved that I am strong enough to compete with the girls in this region. I did learn however that I'm just not fast enough or good enough at gymnastics to compete with them all around. So, I'm taking away these lessons and hopefully will learn from them as I continue with CF. It's time to start having fun again, and while I learned a lot and am proud of myself, I'm glad that it's over and done. Bring on a rest week, and then some good old fashioned CFOT wods..... :)

If you'd like to see my deadlift (and the awesome PR's of my two other teammates) click here....

Those damn mice...

2010-05-04T15:45:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I always say that the best laid plans of mice and men oft times go awry. No really, I say that all the time. Anyway, my big plan was this past weekend to get my blog back in tip top shape, write about 10 blogs that I have on my mind and seriously get back to this whole writing and blogging business. Needless to say, it didn't happen. I hope you don't think I've forgotten that bloggerland needs a dose of my insanity. I haven't. But in all seriousness, I just haven't been able to get here. With regionals on the calendar this week I've been scrambling like mad to make a few extra bucks here in the final push so I've been working like mad, and let's not forget that I do have a full time job which, oh yeah, I can't just call of sick. I've been mad planning and trying to get all of my ducks in a row so I can take three days off. Dear lord, I haven't taken three consectutive days off from school since 3 years ago when I had my tonsils removed. Seriously. I'm not kidding. I haven't. I've barely been able to stay out two. It's too much work and it's a hassle to come back to. Anyway, I promise if I have a few spare minutes I will try to update last week's wods and get some thought down that have just been running through my head lately. So don't worry... I'm not dead... the mice just ate my plans again...

Air Force Wod

2010-04-30T06:02:00.002-04:00

It's been such a tremendously busy week I'm so far behind!!!!!! I promise to get these all up and running soon!

Now I know why they call it a 'dead' lift....

2010-04-28T08:59:00.002-04:00

Coming today or thereabouts...

Snatchable? Is that like lunchable?

2010-04-27T21:48:00.001-04:00

This will more than likely come tomorrow... I'm sleepy

Return of the goat...

2010-04-24T22:20:00.003-04:00

Is this like "Return of the Mack"?

I took a rest day on Wednesday just because my behind was dragging. I hit two 15 hour days back to back and was scheduled to have another one on Wednesday, so I was a little apprehensive about starting the day at 0400. So I got back to the box on Thursday and Friday, and I really have to say I think Jerry is an evil man. Ok, so maybe he's not some horrible terrible guy, but this week SUCKED.

It's like Jerry looked at my goat list and was like, "I'm going to put every one of Katie's goats in a wod this week.... mwuahahahahahah." I swear, that had to be how it went. Everyday this week it was something. Deadlifts,burpees, running, l-sit pull-ups, ring dips... eeep! Everything I SUCK at. I literally had to FORCE myself to go to the box this week. Normally I really enjoy being in the box, but when you suck at the things that come up in the wods, it's really hard to feel motivated to go. I went basically because of regionals. Had I not needed to train for regionals, I probably wouldn't have gone to the box much at all this week. Because, in addition to the suck factor, I am feeling very burnt out.

I'm sure that everyone feels that way sometimes, and I think the combination of the things in my life at the moment is just adding to that. So I think after regionals that some time away from CF will be good for me to recharge batteries and maybe get back to a more healthy frame of mind regarding exercise and working out. Sometimes we all need a break, and I'm thinking it's my time. I'm also thinking after watching my sister swim today that I kind of miss the water and so perhaps some cross training may be coming down the pike. Perhaps it will keep me from getting too burnt out. If I mix it up... it might be a good thing! Who knows... I'll be sure to blog about it though... :)

It didn't look that bad on paper...

2010-04-21T13:13:00.003-04:00

Dear Katie,

I would just like to tell you that you are a big giant terd burglar, and that you really ought to stop judging books by their covers. Seriously. You write all these rules and funny things about CrossFit, and then you totally ignore what you write. You are a pretty big dork sometimes, you know? What number is it on the "Don'ts of CrossFit" list? I forget, but you wrote, "If it looks easy on paper, be afraid." And what did you do yesterday huh?

You saw the wod, said, "This doesn't look that bad" and then came into the box and got your BUUUUUUTTTTTT WHOOPED! Serves you right for judging my wods by their covers. You need to learn to take your own advice butthead and stop being a terd burglar. And if you don't , I will just continue to punish you and program double unders, running, and push-ups everyday. You've been warned!

Love you long time,

CrossFit

******************************************************
Dear CrossFit,

Uncle.

Love,

Katie

******************************************************

Ok, so just MAYBE CrossFit didn't really write me a letter and tell me to stop being all sorts of silly and stupid, but they probably ought to. I saw the workout, thought, this doesn't look too bad, and then got my @ss handed to me BIG TIME. It was seriously painful. After the pull-ups, I just felt all sorts of awful. The WOD looked like this.

5RFT
10 L-sit pull-ups
6 snatches 85lbs/135lbs
400 M run

Ummmmmmmmmm... about this wod and the THIRTY-TWO MINUTES it took me to do it! Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm............................ UNCLE?!?!?!

World turned upside down...

2010-04-21T13:08:00.001-04:00

Isn't that a song?! I think it is... maybe it is... maybe I just made the whole thing up... But regardless, it pretty accurately describes Monday as I spent the better part of Monday morning being upside down.

Jerry had us do 12 minutes of handstand work to start the day. And if you are a pretty decent handstand-er, then you got to work on free-standing handstands and walking on your hands. Believe me when I tell you, I thought this didn't sound too bad, but oh my God! I woke up Tuesday with traps so sore I couldn't touch them. This really works a whole different rage of muscles. It's clearly more challenging than a wall handstand! I would recommend not trying to do this in a workout, but as we did, a skill practice for a set time limit. I really hurt, but was good practice....

After I nearly killed myself by repeatedly turning myself upside down, Jerry had a nice little metcon for us.... double tabata. Zoinks Shaggy. There is nothing I like less than tabata, well, except push-ups... well now that I think about it... and Cindy. I hate Cindy. No offense to her or anything, but her workout really sucks. Soooo double tabata? With rowing, box jumps and walking lunges? Lord. I think my legs rebelled about halfway through. They were like, yar, we mutiny! And then they just refused to work.

Ok, so maybe my legs didn't REALLY talk like pirates, but it would have been an entertaining workout if they had. Anyway, if you're looking for a nice little gasser, here ya go...

Double Tabata
:40 work/ :20 rest
Row
Box jumps
Walking lunges 15lbs w/20lbs m

Ew, gwoss, and ew. Pardon my alternate languages that I'm randomly throwing in here (Pirate, Katiespeak et al) but seriously. I'm DYING for a day when I get to throw heavy weights all day, and that's it. I don't want to do anymore metcon. I know we need it with the competition coming up and all but I don't want to run, or row, or jump, or double under ANYMORE! BLECH! Enough.... let me OHS someone and I'll be happy. Maybe THAT will come up as a regional wod. I'm putting in my vote for that. 1RM OHS! Someone write that down!

Cindy Sandwich...

2010-04-15T08:59:00.005-04:00

Lately Jerry has been throwing a lot of really gross workouts our way, but they've mostly been from area sectionals. On Wednesday, Jerry put together this little number which made me feel like a giant pile of poo. Needless to say that after sectionals, I really never want to see Cindy again... so the fact that it sort of came up was really super disheartening. The wod Jerry threw together looked like this...

Cindy
AMRAP 6 Minutes
With a continuous running clock go immediately to
18 minutes to find 1RM push press
At 18 minute cap with continuously running clock go immediately back to
Cindy
AMRAP in 6 Minutes

This was seriously just gross all around. I'm still extremely weak in my triceps from the whole sectionals thing, and the push-ups on here were so slow it was ridiculous. I understand that it takes a little while to recover from rhabdo, but I was really thinking the rebound would be faster than that. I really didn't feel like I was moving anywhere on the push-ups and this time I wasn't even wearing a weight vest. Doing sets of 2/3 was hard. At this point, I'm not feeling very confident about regionals in a few weeks.

Lungs on fire...

2010-04-15T08:59:00.004-04:00

In this late breaking news, Kings of Leon will remake their hit single 'Sex on Fire' and aptly rename it, 'Lungs on Fire'. Expect the remake to feature T-Pain, Usher, and Jason Derulo.

Ok, so maybe that's not exactly all true... but it sounded good and it made me laugh this morning... kinda like The Goonies...

Chunk- "Ok Brand, Michael Jackson didn't use the bathroom at my house.... but his SISTER did...."

A throwback...

2010-04-13T20:33:00.005-04:00

Can you find me in this photo?

Sometimes we all have those days. Those days where we know where we want to be, but we just can't seem to get there. We can so clearly see our goal, but yet we're just not there and it seems completely unattainable. Yup, these days suck, and are utterly frustrating. It's easy to get down. It's easy to wonder why things aren't happening the way you'd like. It's easy to hate life for awhile. It's also really easy to lose focus.

I wholeheartedly admit that for me these days, CrossFit seems to be more a mental thing for me. I have been losing my perspective more and more. As I progress, I seem to forget how far I've come and that now that I've come THIS far, progress will be slower, it will be harder fought. It will not come as quickly as it once did. So, this post is to serve as a reminder. I called it a throwback because I am going back to the beginning. I want these pictures to remind me of how far I've come. A reminder that the journey is long and far from over.

Hang squat clean X 1

2010-04-13T14:37:00.001-04:00

Whoops! Totally let this one slip by me!

We hit some 1RM Hang Squat cleans last week. Haven't hit a squat clean rep in awhile, let alone a hang clean, so this was an interesting workout to his as I started to get back into the swing of things. My top weight was 1X150 I think.

CrossFit readers: I need YOU!

2010-04-13T14:36:00.002-04:00

Regionals are coming. In fact they are coming like a freight train..... they will literally be here before I know it. So I need some help. If you were on board for the sectionals, you know that I planned multiple outfits to match the different wods. It was a way to keep my mind from focusing too much on the pain that was to come, and just a way to well, HAVE FUN. Unfortunately, my creativity has sort of run out, so I'm looking for ideas.

For sectionals, there was a Penn State outfit, a Steelers outfit, a throwback outfit (I wore my 1/2 marathon shirt/short combo that had well wishes written all over it), and there was the infamous glitter outfit... oi vey.

But, here I am, 3 weeks out from regionals now, and my wardrobe is lacking. I have no plan, and I'm totally bummed. So I need some fresh ideas to spice up my wardrobe for regionals. I'd love to hear some thoughts/comments on what you think I should wear. I'm not one to 'bare all' so please don't even suggest a sports bra and tight shorts. That's totally not me. But all other intersting ideas will be contemplated! :)

I have a drinking problem....

2010-04-12T07:42:00.004-04:00

I'm sure that when I posted this, a few people gasped and wondered what in the world was going on with me. But if you know me, or you've been reading me for awhile, you know that most (not all but most) of my blog titles are done pretty tongue in cheek. This one is no different. I do have a problem with drinking, but not in the way many people probably thought.

I don't have a problem with alcohol, but I do have a drinking problem. I drink a lot of empty calories. What do I mean by that exactly? I mean I drink a lot of calories that don't do me any good. They're not protein shakes or anything like that. They're just plain old sugar. In the past, I have tackled this very same issue, and for awhile, it actually seemed to be pretty subdued. I was zoning pretty hardcore and coffee and soda were things that I allowed myself every ONCE in awhile. They weren't the everyday necessities that they had been in the past. But somwhere along the line, the hardcore zoning slipped, the diet slipped, and I was never really able to right the sinking ship again. I went down in an eating frenzy and just never really came back up.

A few months ago, I started making better choices. I went primal for awhile and really enjoyed it, but had trouble with it once school resumed and life in general went from somewhat serene to psychotic. And it was amazing how over a few months, I didn't notice that soda and coffee were no longer those little 'treats' that I used to allow them to be. They were becoming an everyday occurance, and sometimes multiple times a day! It was scarey how much I was intaking. So I made a conscious effort to cut back and again, for awhile, I did.

Now, one thing I never did do was go back to drinking venti white mochas each morning. I did at least steer clear of those. But unfortunately, Starbucks has become a regular stop each morning and the soda fountain at work, which is GLORIOUSLY free, has become a frequent stop of mine as well. So, after looking at the scale this weekend, I decided that enough was enough and it's time to deal with this so-called drinking problem.

This drinking problem really is worse for me than anything because it gears up my body with a dependency on sugar, and let me tell you, when I don't get it, man am I ever cranky and angry, and all sorts of headachey. I know that means that my body is dependent on it, and now especially since it's not getting it, it is detoxing itself. I know it's a necessary evil, but it's one that I really need to learn to get a handle on. It seems like I do this to myself about once every four months or so. I'm fine for a while and then little by little, the bad habits inch their way back in. I definitely need to take a firmer grasp on this and really limit my sugar intake.

To help combat this, I've begun drinking the Crystal Lite 'on the go' packets. Now I know what you're thinking.... I went from one processed pile o' poo to another. Yes, I know... but I'm hoping that the flavor will be enough to keep me from drinking soda or coffee and that eventually I'll be able to scrap it all together. I know though that breaking an addiction is hard. So, I am just going to have to keep working on this drinking problem. The good news is though, even with the Crystal lite, I've gotten into the habit of drinking a lot more water, which is always good for things. Here's to hoping that I can stick with it. I am 4 days coffee free, and 2 days soda free. Here are the calculations already.... of course everything is approximate, but even the approximations look good!!!

Calories saved in 4 days by not drinking my regular coffee (grande vanilla latte):
1,000
Grams of sugar saved:
144g

Calories saved in 2 days by not drinking soda:
500
Grams of sugar saved:
140g

Totals: 1,500 calories 284g sugar

Un'chain'ed melody!

2010-04-11T13:06:00.001-04:00

I got to the box on Saturday and realized that Jerry was going to let us play with the chains again. There are lots of different science-y reasons for putting the chains on the bar, but I just like how it looks! (And sounds! It sounds pretty badass!) Our workout was

Every 3 minutes complete
2 reps BS @ 80% of 1RM

My 1RM BS is 225. So I took 180 and decided that that would be my working weight for the day. I can assure you that I thought that it would be rather light, I mean, after all, it IS almost 50 lbs less than my 1 RM. However, I failed to factor in that whole 'chains' thing. Oops.

The chains supposedly weigh another 43lbs. Soooooooo did I really just lift my 1RM essentially 12 times? I think so... sorta... I mean... it's not exactly on the bar, but it is on the bar... it sort of trails just a smidge on the ground, then it's not on the ground when you come up... so yes?!? I guess?

I don't know really, but what I DO know is that I felt that fo' sho' the next day.... wooooo! Walking around yesterday at work I thought my arse was going to fall off it hurt so bad! Note to self, do not do so many heavy backsquats in the near future! Zoinks Shaggy!

Running + pulling = Runling?

2010-04-11T13:05:00.002-04:00

After taking a week off, I knew last week that I needed to get back into the swing of things. I didn't go Tuesday when I saw that dreadful push/pull workout, so when I saw Friday's workout, I knew I really needed to get back on the horse and get over the whole mental thing.

Friday's workout was actually Alabama's 3rd workout from their sectional. I sort of liked it, even though it really sucked. It was running and pull-ups. Two things that when combined, = a whole lotta suck, cause there's really no down time and no time to breathe. Normally, I try to regain my breathing on my running. Um, well, that was a little hard on this one because as soon as I would regain it, I'd be back on the pull-up bar, then back out the door, and it would be all sorts of gone all over again. Whoops.

Anyway, the wod was

5RFT

15 pull-ups
400 M run

It sucked, I mean, there's not much I can say. But it's workouts like this that I really need to help prepare for regionals. My cardio is wicked low now, and I totally feel horrific and fat after that week off, so it felt good to hit that one pretty hard. I was the first lady to finish, but honestly, I didn't feel good about it. I may have been the first lady, but it wasn't speedy. It should have been at least a solid minute faster. I was wasting too much time dropping off the bar. If we tackle this again, it will be something to think about.

#37 Ways You Know You are LEGIT CrossFit...

2010-04-09T22:34:00.003-04:00

I began this list a long time ago, and it gradually began to grow... this is a compilation of the #37 ways to know you are a legit CrossFitter... if all 37 apply to you... you are a sick, sick puppy... and you are sorely addicted to the Kool-Aid! :0) I, and I alone have the power to ammend this list!

37. You openly admit to carrying Nu-Skin, Neosporin, and Band-aids in your purse so that when you have a rough pull-up day you can be on that, STAT!

36. You keep your old Globo Gym membership just so you can use their showers after your CF workout drenches you in sweat.

35. While cleaning the interior of your car you realize that "dust" that you're cleaning off your dashboard isn't really dust. It's chalk.

34. You hit 7 straight CrossFit days in a row because you don't want to miss any of the fun during the workouts. During these said seven days, you manage to hit the Trevor Win'E workout, and Miami Vice.

33. One of your friends asks you a question. What 3 things would you take with you on a deserted island. You immediately reply chocolate then stop to think about number 2. You decide on a solar powered wireless laptop so that you can continue to keep up your CrossFit blog because you decide you will continue to do CrossFit on the island. You spend the better part of your afternoon then trying to devise a method of using set numbers of coconuts on a straight branch as a adjustable weight bar, while using coconuts weighted with sand as dumbbells so that you can hit some CrossFit workouts. You do of course realize that this is completely hypothetical and will probably never happen, and that you are completely wasting your time, but nonetheless you do it anyway. You also devise a new implement called a coconut bell, which has palm fronds linked through holes in the sides of the coconut that you made with a rock, so that you can swing it. Ah yes... creativity (and CrossFit addiction) at its finest! :)

32. While your students are playing on the playground, you notice that one of your boys on the monkey bars swings really well. You think to yourself that he would be a great candidate for learning a kipping pull up. You debate about teaching him before you realize that he'll probably hit his head on the monkey bars, thus prompting a law suit, and you therefore opt against it. (Hey, school's for learning right? ;) )

31. After traveling 500 miles and dropping $$ on a hotel room for an awesome beer festival, you decide to be the DD and not partake, all so you can hit your CrossFit workout in the morning.

30. In an effort to eat healthy so you can nail a few extra reps/pounds at your next workout, you decide to have yogurt for breakfast. In your morning haste, you drop the yogurt in the *ehem* area on your nice black pants. You then walk around the rest of the day with some suspicious looking white stains on the front of your pants in your *ehem* region and are forced to deal with all the suspicious stares of your coworkers. Oh for the love of CrossFit!

29. While your wife is busy using your car, you are determined to find a way to get your new weights into your CrossFit room for your morning workout. You resort to using a wheelbarrow, only to get pulled over by the cops because you "look suspicious" pushing a wheelbarrow full of weights. (Apparently at 5am weights in a wheelbarrow closely resemble a dead body)

28. When you hear T-pain sing/rap/warble about zoning, you assume he is on the same diet plan that you are.

27. When told two days in advance what your workout will be, it causes you to have nightmares about people breaking limbs and doing ring dips over a moat full of alligators.

26. In order not to miss a regularly scheduled workout, you make sure that when you drop your car off at the garage that they schedule a loaner for you. You then spend the next few days driving around in a busted up, brokedown, baby blue, 1988 Buick hooptie all so you can CrossFit.

25. Due to all your CrossFit bruises, you find yourself making comments like, "It's a good thing I don't have a boyfriend 'cause he'd swear I was cheating on him."

24. You know how many CrossFitters it takes to screw in a light bulb. (3...1 to screw it in, 1 to count their reps, and 1 to photograph it.)

23. You come up with random questions like, "If CrossFit were a superhero, what super power would it have?" or, "If CrossFit and Xena Warrior Princess were to fight, who would win?"

22. You find yourself speaking about CrossFit as if it were a real person.

21. You understand what WOD, AMRAP, and all the other CrossFit acronyms mean.

20. You're boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse refuses to hold your hand because of your calluses. Your boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse may also at some other point have asked you to stop rubbing their arm, back, shoulder, etc. because your calluses were scratching them.

19. While looking online to buy CrossFit toys for home, you burst into laughter when you find that the site you are looking at recommends that a women start with a "challenging" 15lb kettlebell, while men work with a 35.

18. You are on a first name basis and regularly hang out with Angie, Fran, Helen, Grace, Nancy, Elizabeth, Cindy, Karen, and all the other ladies.

17. After listening to you describe your workouts, your family and friends have suggested that you seek psychiatric treatment.

16. The laundry pile in your room is so rank it could probably stand up and walk out on its own.

15. After being injured doing your workout you recruit people to CrossFit while they exmine you in the ER.

14. You talk about CrossFit so much that your friends and family are not 100% sure you have not joined a mysterious new occult.

13. You don't count reps if you don't get your chest to the deck, or your chin over the bar.

12. You're so beefed up that your instructor has to buy heavier kettlebells just for you.

11. The Zone requires you to hit the grocery store so often that all the cashiers know you by first name.

10. You've kipped yourself off a bar.

9. You've called in sick to work because you busted through an epic the day before and now can't walk/lift your arms/move.

8. You can no longer attend church because it interferes with your Sunday workouts. (not to mention CrossFit and Pukie are your gods now)

7. You get upset if the WOD DOESN'T make you sweat so much that you are forced to change your shirt halfway through your workout. (Visit Rick at Crossfit Alamo for more on this one... ;) )

6. To you, the "Filthy Fifty" does not carry any sexual innuendo or reference someone's age.

5. You use CrossFit for dating advice.

4. You have been caught telling eight year olds (spouses, your own children, or fellow coworkers) to "Rest Later" and get their work done NOW. There's plenty of time for rest when it's finished!

3. While at the bar with your friends you debate whether or not you should take your next shot because you don't have a string cheese in your pocket for the block of protein you need to balance with the block of carbs in your shot of tequila/JD/Hennesey/Hypnotiq. (But let's be honest, some of these choices should probably be more carefully considered anyway....)

2. When your boss pulls a surprise added shift to your schedule that requires you to work a double and would require you to miss a planned CrossFit hero workout, you immediately plan to show up late so you can hit the workout anyway. You hit the workout and pay a $15 shower fee at the gym before going to work, all so you can hit Daniel. In the hurry to shower and get to work, you realize in your rush out of the house, you forgot a towel, so you are forced to drip dry/dry yourself with your sweat drenched clothes so you can manage to only be a half hour late to work. All for the love of Daniel.

And the number one way you know you are CrossFit LEGIT....

1. You chose your vacation desitinations based on their proximity to a CrossFit affiliate. You also actively plan your vacation activities around their workout schedule so you can still hit four workouts per week.

I've been tweeted!

2010-04-07T23:17:00.002-04:00

If you've ever paid attention to my page (it's ok, I know some of you don't... half the time, I don't)... but seriously, if you've ever really looked at my page, you may have noticed that on the right hand side close to the bottom is a little tool called Feedjit. Feedjit is really neat because when people pop over to read my blog, it tells me where they are coming from.

Now, I'm a nerd, so I totally want to know these sorts of things. Well I noticed today that someone had come from Twitter. I don't use Twitter, so I was intrigued... I won't lie! So I went to Twitter, and through a little sleuthing, I discovered that someone had actually tweeted about my DC/VA/WVA wrap up. I thought that was pretty cool... until I read the rest of the statement, and then it went from cool, to MOST FREAKIN AWESOMEST FANTABULOUS THING EVER Did you catch that?

So, in this tweet the woman who posted the link... she called me, get this, "a badass". WHAT?!?!!? I know right?!?! Someone called me a badass! I thought that was seriously the coolest thing ever. Does this make me a nerd? Probably without a doubt, absofreakinlootely. But, at the same time, it was freakin' cool. Someone thinks I'm badass. Wow... cool beans. I don't know who the woman is, but she totally made my day and I thank her a million times over. I'm sure to write the tweet and post it probably took her all of 30 seconds, but it seriously made my entire day. *EEEH!* And yes, I TOTALLY just did the pig thing...

I'm 75% sure...

2010-04-07T08:56:00.002-04:00

You know what I love? Heavy weights over my head, but you know what I don't love? Heavy weights over my head. I'm trying really hard to be smart about the whole injury/recovering thing, but I'm not going to lie, it's not as easy as I'd like. I suppose the old saying, if it were easy, everyone would do it, could apply here, but seriously.

Wednesday's wod was jerk X 1. I talked things over with Jerry and we decided that I would work up heavy to 75% and stop. If anything hurt before then, I was to ditch the bar immediately. Nothing really hurt on the ramp ups, but damn it all if I didn't just feel weaker than a wilted dandelion. Wow... where did that come from? That was a totally random poetic intervention...

Anyway, I just didn't feel like I was solid overhead. I know I know... patience and allowing my arms to fully recover from being shot to hell. But still, I want to go back to moving fast again, and I want to go back to being strong. I don't feel strong right now. At 135 (75% of my 1 RM) I felt like it was excrutiatingly heavy. How in the world can I possibly lift 180 again if I can barely lift 135? I feel like in terms of my strength I've made some serious strides in the wrong direction. It was a frustrating morning for sure... hopefully I feel strong again soon.

On loop... or it's all MENTAL man!

2010-04-07T08:55:00.002-04:00

I woke up when ye olde alarm clock went off at 0400 and rolled over, still half asleep, to turn it off. As I climbed sleepily out of bed, I flipped open the computer and what to my wondering eyes did appear? A wod full of pull-ups, push-ups, and 8 tiny reindeer... wait a tic... there weren't any reindeer... but there were push-ups and pull-ups and in pretty high volume too.

My first thought was, I need to go do this. I need to get work in. My second thought was, oh hellz no. I am not going to get f'ed up again. I'm not going to lie. That was literally all it took for me to go from, "let's do this and let's get back at this" to "we're not doing this". All of a sudden the healing game has nothing to do with my body and everything to do with my head. Could I have gone and just subbed out the volume, yeah. Should I have? Probably. Did I? No.

Like a little pussy cat, I got scared. My body was going, "Katie you really ought to go the gym" while my head was saying, "There is no way in hell you are going to the gym and doing a wod that essentially destroyed you." And the funny thing is, I knew that there was no weight vest this time, and I know that I probably could have done some of it. But I was just too scared.

So, after I totally psyched myself out, I went back to bed and later headed off to my work day. After work though, I was really upset with myself. I should have gone. I am deathly afraid of hurting myself again, but you know what they say about that horse. You gotta get back on... I suppose I do... it's just... well it's scary to get back on... So instead of getting in for a wod, I decided to go for a run. I geared up and hit CFOT around 800 or so... just in time for it to get dark, but it was so warm this week that it was actually a perfect night for a run.

We have a loop measured out around CFOT that we use for Murph. I decided to hit that and just run. This was a great plan except for a few minor details. 1.) Chafing. I totally wore the wrong shorts and it's CLEAR my thighs have gained weight. 2.) My knees are not used to running long distances and they were none too happy with me. 3.) It was almost 830 and I was really hungry.

Regardless, I did manage to get 3 loops in which is a total of 3 miles, so it was still a good workout for me. I didn't have a watch to clock me so I am guessing that it was roughly 35 minutes or so because I stopped to stretch/adjust my clothes a few times. I'm still disappointed that I turned into a headcase, but I'm glad I did get some work in after all. Something is better than nothing right? I'm going to keep working on the mental stuff....

Chains of love...

2010-04-06T07:41:00.002-04:00

It seemed like a good idea after sectionals to lay low for a little bit and let my body start to heal up. Originally, my plan was to take about 3-4 days and then get back to the box and start doing some cardio work and starting running and doing things like that. Um... about that plan... yeah. Not so much.

Once the pain and the problems really settled in last week, I decided that taking the full week off was a much better plan. It was hard, and it was frustrating, but I did it, and I think it was definitely the right way to go. I finally decided on Monday that it was time to return to the box, and I returned just in time. It was a strength day which sort of set my mind at ease.

The pain and physical aspects of what happened last week are all but gone, however, I will publically admit that the rest of my healing process will now be all mental. FDR (I think) once said that "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." I beg to differ. I fear getting rhabdo again, and I fear putting heavy weights over my head because I am afraid that I'm going to hurt myself.

There I said it. Yeah. Big tough girl who likes heavy weights just admitted that she is scared. I suppose this could be related to something like falling off a horse. I'm sure it's hard to get back on because you remember how much it hurts if you fall. Same idea. It's not that I honestly think that I will get hurt everytime I do something. No, I know better. But it's just the fact of knowing that it MIGHT happen that makes me just cringe.

So Monday, while I was ready to get back to the box, I was sort of shying away from the back squats Jerry had programmed. I just wanted to go run. Can't hurt your arms if you run RIGHT? But Jerry told me, in a polite way, to get my ass on the bar and to stop if something hurt. Now, to add to the BS X 3 that we were doing, Jerry added a new element: chains. The idea behind attaching the chains is to force you to drive out of the hole at the bottom. If you can imagine a chain hanging from a barbell, imagine what would happen as you squat: it hits the floor and really doesn't affect you all that much. But, when you come up, the chains don't gather in a nice pool on the floor, they are now hanging from your barbell and being worked on by gravity. Nothing like an extra 43 lbs of chain hanging on your bar. Geez.

Because of my mental game, I was having a hard time focusing and thinking heavy, so I worked slow. I made sure to work on taking a big breah before each rep and not holding my breath, which I sometimes have a tendency to do. Eventually though, even working up slow, I was able to put up 175X3. I think I could have continued to go even further, but you know, it was my first day back and I really didn't want to push it. After hitting all those squats, I was pretty pleased, but the mental game still had a pretty good grip on me. Over the next few weeks, I need to continue to work on my mental game, and get over this hump that seems to be blocking my way. Now, it's seriously all mental.

Katie on: Lessons Learned

2010-04-03T17:02:00.004-04:00

Competing in last week's CrossFit sectionals was perhaps the greatest athletic feat of my life. Sure I've competed in literally hundreds of swim meets and soccer games throughout my time, but nothing quite compared to the feeling that I had last weekend. The feeling of nerves, desire, desperation, drive, and utter pride. It was all around a fantastic weekend. There was no doubt in my mind that I was 100% proud of myself and the effort I put forth, and damn proud to stand as a member of team CFOT.

But once the medals were awarded, the points tallied, the weights reloaded onto trucks, and the spectators had all gone home, the weight of the weekend finally began to hit. The aftermath that was sectionals began to hit home. In the recap I wrote about the weekend, I wrote that I awoke on Sunday morning without range of motion on my left arm. Despite only having about 50% flexation in my arm, I was determined to compete. Looking back that seems incredibly silly of me, but at the time, my brain was on competition mode, and my goal was to finish the sectionals wods the best I could. After a quick consoltation with an onsight chiropractor/sports med doctor, I was ready to compete. But after another day of competition and two more wods, things went from kinda bad, to really a whole lot worse. On Monday morning I woke up without flexation in either of my arms. My triceps were so tight that things like showering, eating, drinking, putting on clothes, and even putting my hair in a ponytail were either impossible or excrutiating.

On Sunday when I spoke with the onsight doctor he told me that what had happened was either one of two things. I either had a severe strain on my triceps, or I had a localized case of rhabdo. Looking back, as soon as he said rhabdo, I should have left, gone to the doctor, and been examined thoroughly. However, as I mentioned earlier, I was in competition mode. My goal was to get through the day. And honestly, since he presented it as a localized case, it just seemed to imply that it really wasn't that big of a deal. Looking back, I wish that I would have been thinking more clearly, but I wasn't and I can't go back and change the past.

The bottom line is that Sunday, I made a mistake. I put myself in unnecessary danger all because I wanted to compete. Sectionals without a doubt will roll around next year, but by doing what I did, there was serious potential to injure myself badly. I have been around long enough to know what rhabdo is, and know that if that ever becomes an issue I should stop immediately. But for whatever reason, my brain didn't see it that way. Not to mention, the doctor never told me that I couldn't continue. He told me he would help me get through the day. Because of that, I guess I didn't take it seriously. I didn't think it was a big deal. I should have.

The lesson I learned here is this. It is easy to be hard, but hard to be smart. But nevertheless, it's important. By doing what I did, I risked that "localized" rhabdo slipping into other parts of my body. I risked doing serious damage to myself all because of a two day competition. And I'm angry. I'm angry at myself for not thinking clearly when I know I know better, but at the same time, I'm also angry with my doctor. He never told me not to continue, and he never told me that when I was finished, I should see an MD. What he did tell me was to call him on Monday.

Again, granted, I should have been thinking on my own that that would be necessary, but my focus was not on my health. My focus was on finishing. And once I finished, it was on celebrating. I wasn't thinking like a rational person. I did what the doctor wanted, and I called on Monday. Unfortunately, he was already booked and I had to wait to see him until Tuesday. Again, it was never recommended that I see an MD, but I was just told to come in on Tuesday. Again, I should have been thinking more clearly, which obviously I wasn't, but there was a failure on both ends here, and what happened on Tuesday was what made me really angry about the whole thing.

On Tuesday when I went for my appointment, the doctor was still convinced it was rhabdo. He told me that I wouldn't have full ROM back for at least two weeks, and he told me that everything was going to get worse before it got better. The way he presented everything to me, it was as if this was no big deal because it was localized. But before I left the office for work, he reminded me that if certain things began to happen, I was to call 911 immediately. Time out. How did we seem to go from not a big deal to you may die from this? It was like he was trying to scare me, and rightfully so, he did. He scared the shit out of me. But again, if this was what I had, and this was the position that I was in, a) why did he let me go to work, and b) why didn't he ever tell me to go see an MD to confirm the diagnosis?

The only way to be certain of rhabdo is to test your urine and do some blood work to check your levels of things like calcium and protein. So, since I never went to an MD, the diagnosis was never confirmed. So when I went back on Wednesday and the doctor told me to avoid electrolytes and added protein to help my body bounce back, I was more than a little frustrated. No confirmation of rhabdo had been made, and by that point it was 3 days past the event and I figured that a visit to an MD would be pointless. But by that point, I was also beginning to think more clearly and think less about the pain. I started to get angry about how things had worked out, both on my end, and the end of my doctor.

The bottom line, and the overall lesson here folks, is that this isn't something to play around with, regardless of the confirmed diagnosis or not. I'll never know if I really had rhabdo or not, but regardless, I put myself in a situation that I really didn't need to be in. Thankfully my range of motion came back after about 4 days, but I was lucky. Not to mention, it cost me. In just two days I paid out about $400in doctor bills. Thankfully, I had spring break this week and was able to take the time to lounge and try to recover, but having a whole week off isn't something that people typically have the luxury of having.

I was also incredibly lucky that I didn't do more damage to myself by competing on the final day of sectionals. No competition is worth your health, and no competition is ever worth your life. As CrossFitters we always want to push that envelope, we always want to push ourselves and find our limits. But at the end of the day, we need to be smart. It's easy to be hard, but hard to be smart. We never want to quit, but as the old song goes, you got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. This situation was a time to walk away and I didn't. I risked a lot to compete in that competition. I'm proud of my spirit and I'm proud of the fact that I did hang in there, but I'm not happy with the fact that I put myself at some very serious risk.

In this situation, there were issues on both ends, both mine and my doctor's, but the bottom line is that there was no need for this to happen. I got VERY lucky, and I've learned in the future that it's not worth it. The pain I suffered this week was excrutiating, not to mention utterly embarassing and frustrating. I can't explain to you what it was like to have to ask our hostess at work to put my hair in a ponytail because I literally COULD NOT bend my arms enough. No competition is ever worth that. Please take my word for it and learn the lesson from me. Don't learn it the hard way like I did. I'm on the mend and I will hopefully be back to the box soon enough, but it was a risk that never should have been taken. It may be hard to be smart, but it's much better for you in the long run.

Know the signs... read more about rhabdo here.

CrossFit Sectionals: DC/VA/WVA recap

2010-03-28T21:43:00.011-04:00

I honestly don't know where to begin this post. So many good things came out of this weekend that I don't know that it's possible to list them all. I'll do my best to write you a good write up, but my arms still don't work really, so please bear with me. I won't lie. Going into this weekend I was a wreck. Waiting all week for the wods, then finding out my sisters couldn't come, then getting them in... whew. The week was an emotional roller coaster. Add into that that on Friday night the nerves hit and I think it's easy to see that I was a bloody hot mess.

I haven't participated in any type of competition really since college. I mean, I did the half last year, but that for me wasn't a competition. That was between me, myself, and I to prove that I could actually complete a half. This was personal as well... I wanted to prove that I could complete this type of competition. But, it was also about the competition itself. I wanted to do well. I wanted to beat people. And I didn't realize how badly I wanted to go to regionals until I was at the sectional. Up until that point, I had the idea that it wasn't possible for me to go. Once I was there and it was within my grasp, I have never wanted anything more.

Teammates, coaches, and fans who were there can attest to the fact that the first WOD out of the gate, weighted Cindy, was by far my worst event of the games and extremely challenging for me. The push-ups slowed me to the point of barely moving and I had to fight for those reps. Lots of folks online bashed Jeff and Maggie for this programming and called it "vanilla", but I'd love to see them strap on a weight vest and go do Cindy. It's not fun. But I didn't quit and I didn't give up, and that was important. I have to say though that one of the best things about this weekend had nothing to do with my place or the wods. It had to do with our fans and our team. Not once during that Cindy did I ever give up because behind me I had people pushing me through. They were cheering and giving me advice, and just in general being wonderful. They were in my corner and that made all the difference. My team would not let me quit.

After that destructive Cindy, I had to refocus. I knew that if I wanted to do well, I had to hit the Clean and Jerk wod hard. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It was go time. The second wod was max reps of clean and jerk at 115 for 3 minutes. 3-2-1 and go. I got 8 in the first minute, but was only able to get out 8 more in the next two minutes. I had #17 in the air at the buzzer, but I couldn't hang onto it to keep it locked out, so I finished with just 16 reps. Those 16 reps were painful, but they were enough to move me into 22nd place after the 2nd wod. With just two wods remaining, I knew I still had my work cut out for me.

I tried to rest and eat plenty of carbs on Saturday night, but I awoke Sunday at 0300in a state of sheer panic. My left arm would not bend. Apparently Cindy took more out of me than I thought. I immediately grabbed ice and some drugs and went back to bed. When I woke up again at 0500 due to the pain, I knew I was in some serious trouble. I rolled out on a foam roller and a tennis ball, iced again, stretched and took more drugs. En route to Annandale, I stopped to buy Icy Hot to try to calm down some of whatever was going on. As soon as Dr. Bills, the volunteer onsite doctor, arrived, I had him look me over. His diagnosis was that I either a) strained my tricep severely, or b) gave myself an isolated case of rhabdo where it only affects a certain part of your body. He put some biofreeze on me and told me to call first thing Monday AM. Of course he gave other recommendations to get me through the day but those are really boring, so we'll keep moving.

Anyway, we were sort of in luck since the first wod of day two was OHS, so I didn't need to bend my arm, but I just needed to keep the bar locked out. Our wod was 20 reps and run 2 laps, as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes. I had a hard time supporting the bar, but fought through everything and came out with 4 rounds +15 reps. This earned me some more big points and brought me into the top 20 at 17th place. While I was pleased with that, knowing that top 20 advance to regionals, it scared me a lot. The final wod was a metcon with sdhp, which involved bending my arm, and not to mention, it was a 7 minute metcon. I'm not a metcon girl. I like to slog through things or throw heavy weights. I'm not a girl who likes to just keep going and going and going. Regardless though, I had to do it, and I had to do my best to hold off the girls behind me.

To describe the last wod is hard. I was nervous, scared spitless would probably be a more accurate description actually. I was so close to regionals, I didn't want it to slip through my fingers, and to be honest, I didn't want to let my team down. They were with me through those middle two wods where I put myself back in the fight for the top 20 and I didn't want to let them down. I didn't want them to feel like their work, as well as mine, had been for naught. Going into that wod, I knew what I needed to do. I knew I had a job and I needed to get it done. It was just a matter of whether or not my body would cooperate and whether or not I could. My oldest sister was there to watch on Sunday, and unbeknownst to me until after the WOD, she had flipped my camera to the video function and recorded the whole thing.

As I was moving, all I could hear was the group of people from CFOT. Everytime a minute went by, they told me. Everytime I dropped the bar, they told me to get back on. The last 2 minutes of that wod were perhaps the craziest thing I have ever heard. The noise level in that gym was unbelievable. I went back and watched the video, and caught the last two minutes. I know why I got through that wod, and I know why I placed 18th and not 21st. Because those people got me there. They got me back on the bar with 15 seconds left to finish my final round of high pulls, and they got me back on the box with 10 seconds remaining to bang out 6 more box jumps. Those final 6 jumps were excruciating. My legs were fried, my lungs were done. But they were the final deciding factor. The difference between me and 19th place was 2 points. That's one box jump more. The difference between me and 20th place was 4 points. That's literally 2 reps. Had I not gotten back on that box, things would have been very different. And I totally credit that to the people who were behind me all weekend.

I have said from the get go that the one thing that I love about CFOT is the support that we give each other. This weekend was no exception and the folks that were there at the sectionals went above and beyond anything I have ever known or seen before. In my life I have never felt so loved and supported as I did during those four wods. For the first time ever, my family got involved with CF and both sisters were able to see me hit some wods, which was so unbelievably amazing that I'm not sure I can even put in words how great that felt. And in addition to my real family, my CFOT family didn't leave my side for two days. I can't think about this weekend without starting to tear up a bit. I got so many hugs and high fives, and so many people stopped to tell me how proud of me they were. It was perhaps the single most amazing weekend of my life. The way I felt after finishing all four of those wods is not something I have ever felt before. I've been happy about performances and glad that I've done well, but there was never this sense of pride or of shared accomplishment, and that's what I felt. Those wods belonged to me just as much as they belonged to every person who cheered for me, has worked out with me, or has coached me. It was a victory for me, but that doesn't make it any less a victory for everyone else. Everytime someone was in a heat, there were CFOT folks there cheering them on. Everytime someone came off, there were CFOT folks to congratulate them. Whether or not you agree with the idea of the games, one thing is for sure.... they show you what you're made of, and they show you what your team is made of.

And for the first time in my life, I am SURE that I am made of pretty tough stuff and I already KNOW that my team is. For the girl who two years ago was overweight and couldn't do a pull-up or a push-up to get 18th place in the DC/WVA/VA sectionals shows just how powerful CrossFit (and this community) is... and to that I can really only say one thing.... Hooah!

Here is the video of the final minutes of the best weekend I've ever had....

For a full list of the DC/WVA/VA scores, go here.

Clark and Helen...

2010-03-25T10:41:00.004-04:00

Ok, so maybe there's no Clark in CF but there is a Helen, and whenever I hear Helen it makes me think of the Griswald's and Christmas Vacation. Ok, so that's quite a bit of a pogo but whatevs... this is a material world and I'm a material girl. Ok, so THAT was even more random than the Christmas Vacation pogo... so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead. Am I ahead? I don't know. I lost track... but I'll get around to writing about Helen sometime today... maybe it will distract me from the fact that VA/DC/WVA hasn't announced wods yet. Probably not but it's a nice thought... YAR!

********************************************************

Because the games were coming, I took this wod at about 75-80%. I wasn't really pushing too much, just trying to get some solid work in so that I could stay loose but still stay ready for the games. I brought this in in 12:36 which totally makes me laugh because that's a PR for me. I was pushing so hard last time I did Helen and only managed to get this in in 12:38. Hmmmmmm... maybe that extra metcon has paid off? LOL. We'll see. We shall see.

Sasquat!

2010-03-23T08:58:00.005-04:00

Monday was a nice strength day, something I've been missing with all the gwoss metcons we've been doing lately. We did BS X 5 and with sectionals coming, Jerry encouraged us to go light if we were feeling froggy, and go heavy if we were feeling stoked. I have been feeling a little on the froggy side, so I opted to go for about 75% effort.

I was trying to lift smart and not hurt myself but get some good work in to keep the muscles nice and loose for this weekend. My 1 RM is 225, so I was thinking about 75% of that would be good. Well, I was ramping up and lifting and wound up throwing 175 on for 5. I felt a little tired but felt strong on those. I was starting to put out a little more effort with those though so I decided that was probably a good place for me to quit. Quit while I was ahead so to speak. So I did that, and when I got home checked what my 5 rep max is. I was actually just 15lbs under that. Sooooo I don't know what that really says. Maybe I'm stronger than I think? Maybe I should have backed off more? I'm not sure really. But I got some good work in, and stayed loosened up, and that's what is important. The sectional is not being released until today (Thursday) and I'm not pleased about that, but I'm doing the best I can to stay sane. It's not working too well, but I'm trying.... if they don't come soon though, GACK! I don't know what I'm going to do!

Beware the widget!!!!

2010-03-23T08:58:00.004-04:00

I wanted to type up this little blurb just to warn all my friends out there in blogger land to BEWARE OF THE WIDGET! As we are INCHING ever so much closer to the CF VA/DC/WVA sectionals, I decided to add a counter to my page counting down the time to the competition.

Everything was fine for most of the day, then as I refreshed my page the next day, all of a sudden I could no longer access my blog and everything went to pot. The widget totally hijacked my blog! I was not pleased to say the least. I had to use the Blogger help button because I couldn't go delete the widget! Even going to my layout page wouldn't let me do it. Not happy with that at all! So I used the help function which eventually told me that I needed to go directly to the template and erase the code for the offending widget. But mind you if you f up, it completely screws up your page, so don't delete the wrong code for Pete's sake! Yeah, about that, I was not pleased.

So take a word of advice from me, avoid all 3rd party widgets. Clocks, countdowns, quotes of the day... they are often not user friendly and can easily waste a half hour of your day trying to figure out how to get rid of them!!! Yar!

More disgusting metcon...

2010-03-21T22:36:00.003-04:00

Have you noticed a theme this week? If you guessed metcon, you're very clever!!! Saturday was more gwoss metcon stuff... but I guess you already knew that huh?

I don't really like writing about metcons because see, I don't like them really, so the only thing I can ever really say about them is that they suck. Really, I do know deep down that the only way to get faster is to do more metcons, but I just really can't force myself to like them. Just doesn't happen. Boo hiss! So, I will say though that my run on this SUCKED. All the middle stuff though, pretty good. I was not the fastest girl on the day by any means, but despite my ridiculously tight hamstrings, I still posted a pretty decent time.

Run 800 M
5 rounds
7 pull-ups
7 box jumps
Run 800 M
5 rounds
7 pull-ups
7 burpees

Time 21:08.

I was really hoping for sub 20 but for that to happen, I need to shave some serious time off my 800 M run in the middle of a wod. Ummmmmmmm...... I'll get back to you on that....

Row, lunge, swing, run!

2010-03-21T22:28:00.002-04:00

Did you catch all that!?!? This wod had a little bit of all the really crappy metcon stuff I could possibly want. AWESOME!

500 M row
Rest 4 minutes
5 rft
60 ft Overhead walking lunge 25lbs
12 KB swings 53 lbs
Rest 4 minutes
Run 400 M

This was a metcon nightmare for me. I rowed out hard and then just couldn't get my legs back. The whole time I was doing the lunges and KB swings my hamstrings were just tweaking! It was pretty wicked. I didn't recover in time to do much better on the run either. My row was a 1:43.1. I could have rowed faster. I took about a second pause at about 100 M left. I was really tight then, and just felt my legs giving out, and that pause caught me. I held the CFOT row record for about 2 hours before someone else had to break it. It sort of makes me angry that people keep pinging on me. I kinda wish they'd just leave me alone for a day, but really, I suppose there isn't much I can do about that....

Do you feel lucky?!?!?! Well do ya punk?!?!

2010-03-18T07:53:00.004-04:00

Like many things that get started in my life, the discussion that gave me this blog idea started off with a seemingingly innocent question. My kids and I were discussing St. Patrick's Day yesterday and I asked them to write in their journals about why they were lucky, or what would be something that would make them feel lucky. I wasn't overly shocked at the responses that I got, but I was sort of disappointed.

In a time when Haiti is in ruins, Chile has shifted the world, New Orleans is still rebuilding, and tsunamis have destroyed Asia, my kids are still focused on the material things. They're 8, and so they still very much exist in an ego phase (satisfying their wants before thinking of others) but still... I was hoping for a little more than what I got. Being lucky means winning the lottery and never having to work again, taking the easy way so to speak. Being lucky means that you have every gaming system made right now, have state of the art cell phones, eat all the ice cream, chocolate and candy you want (I will concede on this one, this IS lucky) and have all the money in the world. I understand that St. Patrick's Day isn't really supposed to be a reflective holiday. Let's face it, for a holiday that focuses on drinking green beer, it's hard to think that St. Patrick's Day is a time to analyze ones life or luck.

Regardless though, it got me to thinking. What is luck really? Why am I lucky? Just like my journal got my kids to think, it made me pause for a minute to think, and I realize that regardless of how "rough" things seem and how frustrated I get, I am one heck of a lucky person. While many things in life may frustrate me, the opportunities that I am given and the things that I have make me a very lucky person. So rather than type them all out in big long paragraphs, I made a list. A list of things that make me one lucky son of a gun... well or daughter of a gun if you're getting technical.... ;)

My list of reasons why I'm lucky...

*While CF and work may make me sore, I have 2 arms and 2 legs that work and support me and carry me through endless hours of work and working out. Regardless of the suck factor, I CAN do it.

*I have a job, multiple in fact. In a time when folks are getting laid off all over the place... I have three jobs that I usually enjoy, and are helping me to actually get financially on the right track. While others are struggling, I am seemingly moving on unphased and actually making headway.

*I have a roof over my head. Haiti, Chile, lots of folks there don't right now. I may hate rent, and I may wish I had more room, but I'm lucky enough to have a place to call home.

*I have friends... and lots of them. Maybe some are only acquaintances, but I'm blessed enough to have a variety of wonderful folks in my life. Amen.

*I've been loved. Some people in their lives live so much in fear of love, that they reject it or ruin it. While it may be painful, I've loved, and been loved... and it truly is the greatest feeling in the world.

*I have food in my belly and clothes on my back. Some people don't. I should remember this when I worry that I don't have the latest fashions or the latest $200 purse or pair of shoes. What's inside the clothes is more important anyway.

*I have my senses. I can smell the first cut grass of the season, see the flowers as they poke through the earth, feel the sun upon my face, hear the birds and geese as they return, and taste the custard that Rita's gives free on the first day of spring... sometimes it really is the simple things...

*I can read. I may not agree with everything I see, but the point is that I can see it, and understand it.

*I have a family. Well, two families actually... my biological one, and my CrossFit one. There are people who go through their lives never knowing what it is like to have the love and support of a family. I'm lucky enough to have it two times over.

This list isn't very long, but honestly, it doesn't have to be. The point has been made that despite all the ups, downs, sideways maneuvers my life takes me on, I have a lot to be thankful for, and I am very lucky. I may only be part Irish, I really actually am, but regardless of the size of the Irish in me, I'm one lucky girl. I can't think of how much different my life would be if even just ONE of those things was not the same.

Life is all about perception. How you perceive what is happening in the world around you. Sometimes it's hard to keep everything in perspective. Sometimes life feels like a runaway train that we can't get off of. When you start to feel that way, just stop and think. You might just be forgetting the little things. Keep it in perspective. I'm lucky. So are you.

Katie on love: Perhaps it's time?

2010-03-17T09:06:00.003-04:00

There are a lot of things that I am. I am a teacher, I'm a friend, I'm a sister, I'm a coach, I'm an athlete, I'm a writer, I'm a CrossFitter.... all of these things give a pretty good description of ME. What I am. But one thing I am not, is lucky when it comes to love.

After last year's fiasco where I found out through my blog that the man I was dating had another girlfriend, I sort of backed off writing about my personal life. But as I think more and more about that, it bothers me. Part of the reason that I wanted to write my blog was to share MY life. I wanted to share MY stories, MY experiences. I felt that if people could take ONE thing away from something I've written or gone through, than that was a good thing. But if I'm running scared, afraid to actually write about any of those things, the purpose of this blog is actually quite moot.

I was very candid in '08 when I shared my ENTIRE CF story and it hit the main page. Why now after all that dirty laundry has aired should I suddenly be so shy? I shouldn't. But one bad experience nearly ruined it all. So, it's time to get back to my roots so to speak. Time to get thoughtful, and time to get candid with you all. So, here we go.

My thoughts on love. Let's get serious shall we? Love is one of the greatest feelings in the world. Unfortunately, it also can be one of the most elusive to find. I have spent years trying to find someone who understands me. Understands the way I think, the way I work, the way I am. And to be quite frank, I've thought a few times that I found it, only to have that perfect glass house that I've built in my head come tumbling down around me in a million tiny small shards.

I've built walls and tried to act as if I don't care that I have been unlucky in love, but the bottom line is that I do. No one really WANTS to live their life alone. Humans are not notorious for being reclusive hermits. We like to be around other people. We need social interaction. We want to feel that connection to someone, and when it's not there, we feel like something is missing.

For a long time, CrossFit helped to fill this void. I love going to the box and seeing everyone and for a long time CF helped me to fill that need to have that interaction. But at the end of the day, CrossFit can't be my boyfriend. Although I would love to marry CrossFit and take CrossFit out for drinks and dinner, it just doesn't work that way.

I will be very honest now and say that my last relationship really messed with my head. I don't want to air all the dirty laundry because in truth, it's really not fair to the other party regardless of what he's done, but the long and short of it is that he wasn't very honest with me, and never really treated me well. If you honestly and truly care about someone, lying to them and doing things that you know will hurt them wouldn't seem like things that are good ideas. Regardless though, despite all the good things, the bad things left their mark too, and it's taken me a really long time to get over this person and the things that they did. This isn't to say that I'm without fault in the relationship. I am and I fully admit that I am not a perfect person, but in my opinion, my shortcomings were not quite so severe.

But, regardless, I'm ready now. I think it's time to move on, and time to get back on the box. I know. Box? What? Well, I'd like to think that in some ways, love is like CF. Sometimes when you miss the box on a box jump, you bang your shin and it hurts like hell. It leaves bruises, probably tears a little flesh off, and takes awhile to heal. For the next few box jump wods, you're really cautious of that box. You are so terrified of slamming your shin that you nearly injure yourself again. I feel the same way with love. I think I've been so wrapped up in all the "what ifs" that maybe some things haven't worked out the way they otherwise could have.

So, I think it's time. I think it's time to start going full throttle on the box jumps again. I think to have a full life, you need to let other people in, even if they chose not to stay. I'm lucky enough to have had the opportunity to love others, and be loved. It hasn't worked out the way I had hoped, but seldom do things in life work out as planned. I would like to think that things in my life are planned. There is a time and a place for things to happen for me. It may be that things never happen, and if not, well, then that's so. But for now, I'm going to keep my heart open and allow people to find their way in, and also be sure to close my heart to the people who don't really belong there to begin with. This is hard to do no doubt, but just like those box jumps, all it takes is a little practice, and eventually you learn. You get better at them, and you get tougher. Next time you bang your shin, it hurts. But you know it will get better in time. So you walk it off, swear a bit, and get right back at it. Don't ever quit. For if you do, you never know what you might miss.

Let love in, because sometimes, all you need is love.

Run, jump, lift...

2010-03-17T08:57:00.006-04:00

It's getting down to the wire now folks. VA/DC/WVA sectionals are coming up fast. To help get all the sectionals athletes ready, and there are a bunch, Jerry has been throwing the disgusting metcons our way for much of the last week. Monday I opted to take a rest day after the insanity that was my weekend. Work Friday, 13 hour double Saturday, plus another shift Sunday combined to pretty much whoop me. Not to mention, I hit that terrible row, OHS, double under wod on Saturday and I wasn't really feeling spunky for the box.

So, Tuesday I made sure to get back in. After working Monday night, I hit the PM class on Tuesday, and certainly enjoyed the run. Well, sort of. It was gorgeous out as it seems that spring has FINALLY decided to make it's way to DC. So, I loved being outside in the warmth and sunshine. It certainly does the soul good. I can at least tell you that. As for the actual running part, that still pretty much sucked, but there's not a whole lot I can do about that.

The wod Jerry threw down was pretty gwoss. I mean that in the nicest way possible too. It went a little something like 'dis.

Run 400M
30 Box jumps
15 cleans
Run 400 M
24 Box jumps
12 cleans
Run 400 M
18 Box jumps
9 cleans

Load: 105lbs
Time: 18:37

I have to say, I was pretty proud of this one honestly. I felt like I really put out on this. Scratch that, put out? Sounds bad. I really gave my all? Better. I was wheezing and gasping through most of this, but I was pretty good about staying off my knees and just at least getting a few more reps. I'm no metcon ninja, but I where other elite (105) folks lost time on the clean and jerks, that's where I sort of made it up. While they smoked me on the run, I gained some of that time back on the jerks. So it was a nice balance. I wasn't the fastest girl on the day, but I was pretty close, and on a metcon with a run, that's pretty good. I'm still not what I would call "psyched" for the sectionals because I'm still too worried about DU's or HSPU coming up, but I'm sort of at peace with it. What will be, will be, and there's not much I can do about it. Life has thrown me some training curves that I didn't see coming and I've done my best to work around them. I've gotten stronger and faster in the last few months, and although my goats haven't gotten that much better, that's not to say that I haven't shown improvement. I have.

So, I'm proud of myself for doing what I need to do for me, and still being able to compete at this level. I think that says a lot about me and my personality, and it says a lot about my level of fitness. I can do this not being totally focused. Imagine what I could do if I was focused! Maybe next year that will happen, but for now, I'm just rollin' with the punches.... but people at sectionals better be ready. I do carry a pretty mean right hook. ;)

Things that for some reason are really beginning to irk me...

2010-03-17T08:57:00.005-04:00

I'm going to start this list now... and then do the other blogs later. I don't know why I was bothered by this first thing on my list, but... it irked me.

#1- "Baby on Board!" signs

Ok, I understand that parenthood is a big deal, and I hope that someday I will have the opportunity to have someone love me enough to bring a little wee glitter wearin' CF'er into the world. However, I don't understand these stupid little signs. It's like people think that by announcing that they have a child in their car, they have some sort of a special license. As I was following the driver with this sign this morning, I felt like their special license was a license to be stupid. Driving under the speed limit, signaling for nearly a minute before changing lanes, braking for every single possible pothole, squirrel, ant, and every other driver within a mile radius who happened to brake for a legitimate reason and in general driving defensively with a capital DEFENSIVELY.

Don't get me wrong. I understand that kids are precious and the desire to protect is strong, but honestly, driving UNDER the speed limit down here is actually just as dangerous as flying down the highway at 80MPH. Not to mention, the signaling stuff was just plain annoying to all the other drivers around them... they slowed down to let the car over, but then when the person didn't take advantage of the space they were allowing them, they decided to pass them. The car THEN decided it wanted to move, and did the whole swerving thing, as if the cars who were originally trying to be nice, had done something wrong. Irk irk irk... I was annoyed by this this morning.

Straight outta the bag...

2010-03-17T08:56:00.003-04:00

It never seems to fail. Everyday I wake up, think about what I have going on for the day, figure out what I need to take with me, and I pack it. After a shower (if I'm not going to CF) I grab my gear and hit the road. But I've increasingly noticed that rather than walking out the door like a normal human being, I walk out the door feeling like a bag lady. I literally feel like I've been living my life straight outta the bag.

I walk out most days with a CF bag, a school bag, a lunch bag, perhaps a comfy clothes bag (if I'm planning on staying late at work to do papers etc) and very often a restaurant bag. I literally feel like I'm living in these bags. It has gotten so bad that I've begun to carry and keep doubles and triples of everything just so that if by chance I forget to put it in the bag, I know I'm covered. For example, I think I currently own 8 deodorants, 3 toothbrushes, 3 lint brushes (one travel sized), 4 things of lotion (there are more than that, but they do not travel), 3 things of body spray, traveling Q-tips, two make-up bags, 2 shower poofs, 2 sets of shower gear (soap, bodywash, poof, shampoo, conditioner, face wash) and multiple pairs of tweezers, and make-up.

I'm beginning to literally feel like a bag lady. I realized the magnitude of this issue one morning last week. I didn't attend CF because I was feeling under the weather, and I had stayed late at work the night before, so I hadn't brought home any school work. I didn't have restaurant work, and my lunch was already in the fridge at school so I literally left the house carrying my phone, my keys, and my school badge. I felt naked. I felt like I had forgotten something and it drove me crazy. I probably spent five minutes before leaving the house wandering around, looking for something that I was supposed to be taking with me. I'm wondering if this bag carrying has turned into a sort of sickness. A sort of disease. Bagitis? Hmmm... I don't know if I like that. Sounds too much like some sort of VD. I'm wondering too if this is just me. Does anyone else suffer from a sort of affliction like this? Bagitis? Perhaps coffeeitis? A disease where you can't leave the house without carrying your coffee??!? I think I should check in with some sort of medical association to see if perhaps I can be diagnosed or at least make them aware of this pressing and very dangerous condition. :P

If the first part didn't suck...

2010-03-14T08:06:00.002-04:00

If the first part of yesterday's wod didn't suck bad enough for you, don't worry. Cause the 2nd and 3rd movements of the triplet ought to get you. Oi vey! I know I've been sick, so I've missed a lot of time in the box this week, and believe me, I feel it. My energy was wicked low so I had a hard time pushing through, but regardless of that, the wod would've felt terrible anyway.

The first part of the WOD was a 500 m row. I mean really, who likes rowing 500 m? Not only does it fry your legs, but it totally gasses you too. So then, from there, you go right into 9 OHS with 85 lbs. See, I love OHS, but dude... trying to stabilize and hold the bar over my head while my legs don't quite work, see, that doesn't work out so well. And then, (and 'den and 'den and 'den, no and 'den!) you have to do 50 DU's. I HATE HATE HATE HATE DOUBLE UNDERS!!! I am really not kidding about that. I hit myself so many times it is ree-damn-diculous. Seriously. I had to start doing them in my fleece because I hit myself so many times that I had welts! And of course, we had to do 3 rounds for time, so I KEPT hitting myself. Yar. I'm not a fan of whipping myself.

The really awesome thing is then, that after this I was on a double at work. My work uniforma is a company logo'ed t-shirt of whatever kind I'd like to wear, and pants, so long as they aren't jeans. Pretty cool huh? Yeah, that's why I freakin' LOVE this place. Anyway, I had brought a short sleeved shirt for my shift. Um... about that... I took off my hoodie when I got to work and people were really concerned. They seriously thought I had gotten into some sort of altercation. I literally had welts up and down my ENTIRE arm. It guess it's a good thing that they couldn't see my butt or the back of my legs cause I caught myself there pretty well a few times too... and I'll be the first to attest to the fact that it really really really really HURTS. I'm just sayin'.... speakin' of hurting, I am after that double yesterday. Wow, not sitting for 12 hours can really mess with your legs..it's time to go roll out... *insert Ludacris song here* ROLL OUT!!!!!