What are YOU thankful for?

It seems unreal to me that already it's November, and today is Thanksgiving. It feels like only last week it was January and we were ringing in the New Year. For the past week or so, I have had my kids work on writing a Thanksgiving paragraph telling what they're really thankful for. Some of the paragraphs obviously were a little more material than others (I'm thankful for my Wii!!!!) but for the most part the kids did a great job. So, it got me to thinking. As I sit this holiday season, what am I truly thankful for?

I think back over the course of the last year, and I'm amazed at how much as changed. I'm amazed that I survived my first year with third grade. I'm amazed that I lost 23 pounds. I'm amazed at how much I've learned, how many people have entered (and exited) my life, and I'm amazed at how much I've changed.

When I look back on the year, I am of course thankful for my family and friends. I am of course thankful that I am gainfully employed and can afford to live and support myself. I'm thankful that I am able to take care of myself. I am thankful that I am able to sleep soundly at night because of the sheepdogs that sleep outside my door. But somewhere, pushing very close to the top of this list, I realized, that I am very thankful for Crossfit. I know it sounds a little over the top, but when I think of all these things that I'm thankful for, I realize that CrossFit has played a large role in many of these areas.

Now, obviously, my true flesh and blood family has nothing to do with CrossFit. I will always been thankful for them, and they of course have nothing to do with CrossFit. But, what about my friends and my adoptive family? CrossFit has allowed me to find my adoptive parents (Lt. Col. Dan and Susan) who are amazingly supportive. I have been in some rough spots lately and they have taken the time to support me in the best way they can. Without CrossFit, I never would have had the opportunity to have them in my life. And what about my friends? The only friends I have in my life are not people I have met at CrossFit, but I'll be frank, the people I have met at CrossFit are some of my best friends. Over the course of the last year, and especially the last few months, I have fallen face down into the mud on several ocassions. When I've thought I couldn't pick myself up and keep going, my friends at CFOT were right there to pull me out of the muck and help me. Always ready with hugs and helping hands, these people have shown their true colors and they are wonderful. I couldn't ask for a better group of people to have in my life. And let's not forget that without CFOT I would never have had the reason to post up this blog and make a whole group of online friends. Sort of cheesey? Perhaps, but I look forward to reading comments and hearing from these people everyday as well. They have been following my life and supporting me the best they can, often from very far away. Talk about powerful! CrossFit has done all of this.

Not to mention, those attitudes that I've learned, and the things about me that have changed over the last year are all the result of CrossFit. Without CrossFit I never would have lost weight. Without CrossFit I would not have grown as strong as I have, both pysically and mentally. Without CrossFit I would not have found the strength in myself to be the person that I am now. This year has been a rough haul. But looking back, I'm glad I went through it. I've learned a lot about myself. What I can do, what I can't do, what I'm willing to deal with, and what I'm not. Because of CrossFit I am watching myself become the person I want to be, and that is a pretty powerful feeling.

I am thankful for my real family. I am thankful for my job, and my house, and all those sorts of things. But above many other things, I am thankful for CrossFit. I am thankful that everyday I have the opportunity to get together with a group of people who are as wonderful as they are. I am thankful to have such an amazing coach who pushes me everyday and is helping me be the best that I can be. Yes, CrossFit is an exercise program. It is a way to stay in shape. But it is so much more than that. CrossFit is a life changing program, and I am thankful that it has changed mine. Because of CrossFit and the people I've met, I've changed and learned things about myself, as well as the world around me. I'm thankful everyday that I've had those experiences. I wouldn't trade CrossFit or Jerry or the crew at CFOT for anything this world has to offer. That is the POWER of this program, and THAT is what I'm thankful for.

But what about you? What are YOU thankful for?

Yesterday's ugliness and today's "Onion Skin"...

So I have to admit, after Sunday's max effort, I've not been feeling very frisky. I really felt like that max took a lot out of me. I've never felt that spent after a max before so it's an odd feeling, but I actually DNF'ed on a workout on Monday. That doesn't ever happen. But regardless, I still went, but only got two rounds of yesterday's ugliness. It went like this

3 Rounds for time
21 K2E
21 KB swings
21 Rope pull-ups (sort of like a dead hang on a rope)
21 Push ups
21 Box jumps
21 Good mornings
150 M walking lunges

I only got through 2 rounds in 30 minutes, but I did those 2 rounds as Rx'd. I didn't sub abmats or regular chins so it def took me awhile. Eesh. I had to get to work, so I couldn't stick around for the third round, but truthfully, I was smoked.
The shoulders were fried.

Well, then of course, today was more shoulder work. I still wasn't feeling really frisky, but of course I went in today. Turkey and pie? Oh come on, I gotta CF before eating all that! Anyhoo, today was something we've done before. It looked a little something like this...

5 rounds of
Max strict press in 2:30
Max chins in 2:30

My first few rounds were crap. Totally. I fell off the bar due to grip issues and just didn't feel good. I used 60lbs for the strict which I think was the heaviest on the day, but I don't really care about that. I just know that today should have felt better and it didn't. I finished with 59 stricts and 60 chins, which is still a lot of work but still, I feel like it def should have been better. But then again that may just be my perfectionist personality talking. :P

I'm going to try to get in tomorrow, but you know what I'm doing right now? Oh that's right... having adult bevies after the INSANEO day that I had today. Big shout out to Cara who put up with the craziness that was traffic in the NOVA area today to get me with 10 minutes to spare to the dealership to pick up my baby. She looks good as new and I can't tell you how glad I am to have her back.

As an aside, if you happen to be in the NOVA area and need to rent a car, I would highly recommend the Enterprise off site, but attached to Reagan. They were great. Cheap rates, open late, and very polite to me. I was in and out in 1:30 flat tonight. It was a good experience. I would however, not recommend wrecking your car.

I'm going to have a few more adult bevies... I can't say I've earned them, my work ethic is lacking this week, but I do need them. Amen!

Clean and jerk X 1-1-1-1-1-1-1

These are the boards that made my day!!!

Ah, yes... another strength day... :) I missed the last two times that we did max clean and jerks and I have been itching to get this workout in. So, when I woke up, I was debating after the few adult bevies that I had last night whether or not I really wanted to go in. Well, when I saw this up on our site, I knew that I had to go. I was STOKED to hit this. Have I mentioned that I REALLY love strength days? No I mean, REALLY? :)

I was determined today to be aggresive with my jumps and be smart and not waste time doing too much warming up, which I think has been a problem for me in past workouts. So today I just went for it. I jumped right in at 65, not really bothering with 35 or 55. The fun today looked like this.

65X1
85X1
95X1
105X1
115X1
125X1
130X1
135X1
137X1 (F)
137X1 (F)
137X1 (F)
137X1 (F)

I was so frustrated that I couldn't get up 137 but honestly, 135 was a new clean record, although not a new jerk record. I was really pleased with the day today. It really isn't important, but nonetheless it feels kind of cool to know that I now own the clean and jerk record at CFOT. It's nice to be good at something. :) Woot! I heart strength work! :) Until tomorrow... the feast is mine. Yikes and away! :)

Metcon of horrors!

So, per Thursday's post, and oh, let's say about 30 other posts of mine, we all know that I'm not a huge fan of running. Well, Thursday was running, and now guess what came up yesterday? Oh yes, a good old fashioned metcon WITH RUNNING. Curses! I so suck at running!!! As I said on Thursday, Jerry has started to follow the main site. Yesterday's workout was actually supposed to be a 5K. *shudder* Yes, ok, I know I finished a half marathon but you know what happened after that? A fat lot of no running, cause I no longer had a reason to really. Well, thankfully, Jerry didn't make us do the 5K. Whew! However, he did make us do this

3 Rounds for time
800 meter run
15 hang squat clean thrusters (1/2 jerk max-70lbs)
15 box jumps
15 burpees

I would like to preface this whole thing by saying, that this workout sucked!!! I felt very very sluggish on the run and as an aside, also was freezing my behind off because it was a whopping 32 degrees outside during the run. I literally felt like my lungs were burning. Then to go right into squat clean thrusters was just brutal. How is it that Jerry is able to come up with such madness? I go back to my post from this summer where I said that Jerry has an evil CrossFit lab in his basement where he figures out new and interesting ways to torture me. :P It's full of toys and smoke and ocassionally maniacal laughter.

But anyhoo, the running, squat clean thrusters, then box jumps were a doozy on the legs, and let's not forget the finisher of the burpees. I had to dump the squat weight a few times because I was loose on the bottom but I was able to get through things pretty well. I wasn't the fastest on the day by any means, but considering how slow I am at running and burpees, I didn't do too badly. :P My overall time was 32:09. Could have been a little faster, but all things considered I'll take it. With the crazy schedule, the bad eating, and my general amount of disfunctionalness these days, I'll take it. :P

Some runnin' and some chinnin'...

So our workout from today didn't look all that brutal, but it certainly was a good gasser. We all know how much I enjoy running (hahaha) so clearly this wasn't my bread and butter, but still, I felt pretty good about this workout all things considered. The workout of the day looked like this

Run 400 meter
Max chins

Jerry has started to follow the main site more recently so it's interesting what's been coming up in the blue room. I'm not really a fan of running, but eh, I guess I have no choice. :P I haven't had a lot of spare time to spend on other's blogs and the CF main site, which totally bums me out, so I didn't realize that's what he was doing until he told me. I was able to get 5 full rounds of this in, plus one more run. My chins I maintained at 14 across the board, which, again, all things considered really wasn't that bad.

I have been bummed out by my chin numbers lately, but I just haven't felt really good on the bar. I've been worried so much about speed that the form on my chins has sort of gone to pot, and so we're going to have to start all over again. Jerry suggested going back and resetting my PR. Making sure that I'm higher over the bar. That's sort of a sad feeling to lose the PR, but I know he's right. Good form is more important than whether or not I can do 24 sort of reps on a bar. But, as Jerry said to me the other day while I was leaving, I should enjoy this challenge because it's going to take a lot of strength. :P Ah, damnit. He knows my weakness..... :P LOL.

Push jerk-1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

So, this week, yeah this week. It's a killer of a week with me having commitments every single night this week. Yay for 12 hour days (at least) everyday. Well, this morning I woke up and I was really debating whether or not to go into CF. Well, I got up, got in the rental car (which by the way is a whoooooollle other can of worms altogether) and headed off to CF. When I got there this morning what to my wondering eyes should appear? No, it was not Santa and his reindeer, but instead, max push jerks. I've been saying I really want to figure out how much weight I can get over my head. Haha, well today, I figured it out, well sort of.

I warmed up with some jerks just on the bar, then started jumping. Here's what my fun looked like.

35X5
55X5
75X5
85X5
95X1
105X1
115X1
125X1
130X1
135X1
140X1
145X1 (JBF)

What just JBF? It means just barely failed. I really feel that I can get 145 up but I was pretty tired and just BARELY missed. I am bummed that I missed 145 cause I really think I can do it, but I'll take 140. I think that's pretty sweet. I had to have people help me get 135 and 140 to my shoulders, but I cleaned up through 130. Woot! :)

Ah, yes. Now the rental car story...... well with my car being out of commission temporarily, I had to rent a car. Well when I called they said that they couldn't "schedule" a pick up. I had to call the day of the rental and tell them I needed a ride. So I had to call at 730 yesterday morning. I figured they would be there in plenty of time, seeing as how they are only 5 minutes away. Guess not, they didn't show up until 805 then I had paperwork to fill out etc after I got the car. So guess who was late to work yesterday!?!?! Oh, that's right. It's me. Nothing like walking into your own classroom late. Ugh... I'm not a fan..... not a fan at all..... ick. Coaching tonight after school, and work at the restaurant... we'll see if I can muster myself out of bed to get to CF tomorrow morning... :P

Sunday's killer and max front squats...

Sooooo.... working on Sunday nights is fun. Have I mentioned recently how much I heart working on Sunday nights? No? I haven't? Oh well... Let me rectify that STAT! Ok, I've worked in the restaurant business in some capacity since I was 19. I like the restaurant business, otherwise I wouldn't keep doing it. But sometimes, it can get very frustrating. Like last night... things were slow, and I was in the process of cleaning up, when 7 people came in about 45 minutes from closing. They were served quickly, but then proceeded to sit. And sit, and sit and chat and sit and chat. Now, I understand they were having a good time, but seriously? It was 1/2 hour past close, I had to sweep still, and they were camped. So eventually, I paid our busboy $5 to sweep for me when they left. So, I rolled home around 11.

Now, my roommate was nice enough to let me use her car while she's out of town so getting to from work was not a problem, thankfully. But, getting home at 11 didn't help my getting out of bed for CF. But, I did. Barely... mostly because I knew that people would be all over my butt if I skipped today. So I went. And today we hit... *dunh dunh dunh daaaaahhhh* Max front squats. Oh yeah. 5 rep max front squats. Now, I'm not great at squats, but I was game. Although the second I cleaned the bar, I knew that yesterday's killer was going to hurt me. Oh, that's right, I forgot to mention that fun little tidbit. Here's what I did yesterday

25 chins
50 clean and jerk (65lbs)
50 burpees
50 wall ball sit ups (15lbs)
50 box jumps
50 push-ups
25 chins
Time 29:05

Not too shabby, but man, I cleaned that bar today and wwwwoooooooo buddy were my shoulders aflame! But, I'm not one to shy away from max stuff. I like it! I like it a lot! :) :P So, away I went. Here's what my reps looked like.

35 X 5
65 X 5
85 X 5
105X 5
115X 5
125X 5
135X 5
140X 3 (darn!)

To be frank, 140 felt better than 135 but I was gassed and couldn't get the 4th rep out of the hole. On the last rep of 135 I don't have the foggiest idea how I got it up. Jerry said I started to lean back, and man I just gritted my teeth on that one and pushed with everything I had. Somehow I got out of it and got up with that last rep, but man oh day it wasn't pretty I know. Even without a camera, I know. I would have tried 140 again, but I was pretty fried. That was a lot of front squats to do before attempting 140. But overall the last two days, I've been pretty pleased. Work still is frustrating me, as is the car situation, but other things are turning around and going ok, so I'm feeling a little bit better. Hopefully things will keep going well. I've got stuff to look forward to this weekend and am just hoping that work stress doesn't overwhelm me and stays at bay. But, we'll see.... it's going to be another crazy week... I may be like Homer and go crazy... I really hope everyone enjoyed that Youtube... that's one of my faves! Well, until next time...

The feast is mine! Yikes... and away! :P