I never knew there was chicken in this!

I don't know if you remember this shtick from Campbell's a few years back, but there was a Campbell's soup commercial where there was a little boy, sitting at the end of the table by his brothers. The idea was that the soup was passed to the brothers before him, but by the time he got the soup, there was so much chicken in it, that he even got some and all that was left was not broth. The surprise was clear as he delivered his "Hey! I never knew there was chicken in this!" line. Now, what in the crizzap does this have to do with my day today? Well, much like this boy, I was pleasantly surprised today.

Jerry ran a different format today, and gave everyone a quick circuit, and then time to work on form, or work towards their 12 week goals. Our quick circuit was a 1.68 mile run today. This was good for me because I haven't been doing much running at all lately. But, although my time was pretty consistant for me, 15:12 (a rough 10 minute mile) Jerry wanted us to sprint. I don't think though that Jerry understands that I can't sprint. I can't. Really. It's just not in my nature. So I'll be happy with the 15:12 and take it as more training for October.

Now, one thing I realized. I hate the Nike+ running shoes. For flat feeted people like me, they are horrible even with insoles. They role too much to the outside, which is exactly where my pressure isn't supposed to be. I think it's what's been hurting my running lately, because you know what, I didn't have any of the pain that I do know before I bought those shoes. I had the pain of my old ones wearing out, but not like this. I need to buy the old kind again. Sorry Nike, but screw you. Going back to the Brooks as soon as I am financially able. Shoes matter people! shoes matter...

After the run, I was walking barefoot through the parking lot because I couldn't stand my shoes, and was contemplating what to work on. I decided today would be a good day to keep working on my muscle up progression. I am going to get one. It's going to happen. I need to master the break in the middle though. That's what is hurting me. I'm physically strong enough to go from a dead hang and get my chest to the rings, but not physically strong enough to break through and over them. But here's where my pleasant surprise came in. As I was talking with Danny, I said I was amazed that I could get to the rings, but couldn't do a strict pull up. Danny was quizzical and said, "You can't? Let's see." So I went to the bar, completely expecting to not be able to do it, and guess what! I hit a strict chin. No kip, nothing! I have NEVER in my entire life been able to do a strict chin. Never. I was totally stoked. It means that my strength has actually gotten to the point where I can lift my own body weight. I realize that I was only doing them one at a time, but still. That for me was huge. Body weight exercises are a serious weakness for me, and to hit that chin today was enough to shock me, but also make me want to do a happy dance.

So all in all... another good day in the Blue Room. Also, I'm stoked to see so many new readers from different parts, especially Peru. Jaime is really working hard to try to spread CrossFit, and talking with him has just been really cool. I hope you all have a chance to go check out CrossFit Peru and say hi!

Well, after being at work all day today (yup, pulled the lucky day shift card today) I'm off to shower since I smell! :) Lovely.... :P

So cool...

I just wanted to post this up and say a special "thank you" to Jaime at CrossFit Peru. He's translated some of my ramblings into Spanish and is sharing my story, as well as all of our CrossFit stories, with the people in Peru. I think it's just wicked cool!

Muchas gracias por todo su trabajo Jaime! Los articulos son excellentes! (Y los fotografias tambien... ;) pero eso es porque son de mi.... ;) jajajajaja)

To see all of Jaime's work, go check out CrossFit Peru.

CrossFit Peru

Another go round with Grindy, why I need the Zone, and I join the 12 week challenge...

I've been out of town since Thursday, and packed with every intention of working out at home, but for once I listened to what my body was saying and took some rest. I was exhausted. Since the end of school, I really haven't stopped. I had a week of class, and then went straight into my 11 day run at work. So, this week, I began to crash. The days off at home were great. I got to see my grandfather and he was having a good day. It was great to see him have one of those. It struck me though, when he asked about my teaching and said how proud he was of me. I can't really describe it, but it hit me hard. He's been through so much and still thinks about things like that. It just amazes me. But nevertheless, it felt great to be back in the Blue Room this morning. Thanks to beer inventory last night I wasn't awake and vertical at my usual 0600 time, but I made it in for the 730 class.

I heard barbells the second I walked up the stairs and was excited because I thought we would be throwing heavy weights around. But, I was a little disappointed to learn that instead we were hitting "Grindy" for another go. We hit Grindy back in April and on that day I went Rx'd weight, but didn't yet have the strength to do all the push-ups to standard. My time was 29:33 Today, I went Rx'd weight AND did all the push-ups to standard. :) So that in and of itself was a marked improvement. I felt like I was smoking through the first round and actually kept up pretty well with Andrea, who is a freakin' firebreather if there ever was one. But on round 2, she smoked me because the push-ups held me up. I suck at push-ups. I really felt my lack of push-up strength today. I could have done this 2-3 minutes faster if I wouldn't have wasted so much time on them I feel. But overall, I was pretty happy to be back and I brought this one in in 25:36, nearly 4 minutes off my previous time. So that was pretty exciting for me.

After class, we were talking about the 12 week challenge that Jerry is running for us. We are on teams, and each member is working towards their own goals. If any member doesn't meet their goal or benchmark towards their goal on their test week, then the whole group pulls a "Funishment" workout. Well, because of my traveling, and the goals that I have for myself, I wasn't sure it was going to be a good idea for me to join. My goals are a little challenging to measure but I think I've found a way. My one main goal, especially after the cabin party this weekend, is to stay strict on the Zone for 12 weeks. This is going to definitely be challenging. But, I went home for the Cabin party and 2 things happened. 1, I gave myself a free pass at the party, and completely overate. My body did not know what to do with the extra food or sugar. I wound up waking up at 130 to throw up. It was not a fun time, and was definitely a learning experience. I need the Zone. I need to make sure that I keep myself healthy, and don't wind up the way I was or worse. The second thing that happened while I was home, was that I realized something. While I was home, I was in the grocery store, and Wal-Mart and couldn't believe what I saw. The AVERAGE person that I was seeing, was probably at least 15-20 lbs overweight. It was mind boggling. I don't notice it as much down here, and I can't explain the difference between here and home, unless maybe it's just accessibility to programs and information, but whatever the difference, it was astonishing. I was watching people put things in their cart, and I was seriously appalled. I wanted to yell at them! I wanted to stop them and save them from themselves, but it's kinda like the situation the other day on the main site with the good captain. If people are uninformed, there is little you can do or say until they decide to pay attention. I don't want to look like the people I saw. I am going to do my damndest to stay on the Zone strict for the next 12 weeks and stop eating the way I have been for the last week or so.

My other two goals are goals that I've had, but have not yet met. My second goal is my sub 10:00 Fran. I have missed Fran the last two times we hit her, but my old time is 11:39. I've broken the time and weeks down to try to make gains every 3 weeks. So we'll see how well things happen. My other goal is the 30 chins. My goal is to increase my max by 2 every 4 weeks. Right now I'm at 24. I need 6 more. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can do this. I don't want my team to have to have some "Funishment"!

One last fun note today. Jaime of CrossFit Peru emailed me to ask if he could translate and publish some of my work on their site. Now I'll be bilingual! :) He is trying to spread the good word of CrossFit to the people of his country. Jaime said that the idea of functional fitness has not yet caught up with the people in Peru. He wants to try to use my writing to help encourage the idea that women can be strong and beautiful, (one of my main topics last week), and encourage them to try CrossFit! He also wants to encourage "normal" people to try CrossFit and thinks that hearing from a "normal" person would be helpful. I think it's awesome that he is trying so hard to share the Kool-aid. I hope that whatever he takes off of here will help and I wish him the best! :)

Bienvenido a Peru!

I found out through my Feedburner that I have an email subscriber! :) My very first one... :) So I have a very special message for the folks at CrossFit Peru!

Bienvenido! Estoy feliz que me descubieron! Espero que les gustan mis escritos! Muchas gracias para leyendo! Lo siento por mi gramatica mala. Mi espanol es un poquito oxidado..... :( Vi tu pagina y es fantastico. Tienen un grupo grande a tu gimnasio? Por favor, te siente libre dejar tus pensimientos para mi! (Y tambien, te siente libre corregir mi gramatica y mi "spanglish"). :) Bienvendio a la communidad de CrossFit!

Strong is beautiful right?

So what do you do when you don't feel strong or beautiful and you feel like the biggest idiot this side of 7 counties?

Restful ramblings: Why do I CrossFit?

Oi, I took a rest day today. After the beginning of this week, I was due! So, since it is a rest day, I must entertain you, bemuse you, or annoy the pants off of you with some restful ramblings. (Do you like how I found a way to use alliteration this time??!?! :) )

You know what's really cool about blogging? (Besides the fact that I get to say whatever I want and people read it!) The fact that with modern technology I can know the locations of the people reading my blog, and I also know where they came from on the internet, and, if they came through a search, I can also see what they searched for, and thus found me. Pretty cool huh? Sometimes this produces many interesting results. I'm not sure why it came up on me, but someone was searching for "Will the Stairmaster give me a big butt?" and somehow wound up on my blog. It kind of cracked me up. But I instantly thought of a post I had recently read off the affilitate blog about how women are afraid of picking up heavier weights and bulking up. Then I kinda got a little huffy with the woman to think that this woman was more concerned with her appearance than health, but that's a whole other blog post and I digress. The one that really sent me a little over the edge was the person who was searching for "Why CrossFit sucks". No, you read that right. He wanted to know why CrossFit sucks.

Now, I don't know if said person ever found ANY information pertaining to that topic, but I'm willing to bet that if he did, it was written by someone who tried CrossFit for the first time, didn't scale appropriately or accordingly, and thus got their ever loving butt whooped. I became a little bit enraged that this unknown individual even dared to insinuate that CrossFit is anything but a wonderful program. It made me wonder what even possessed someone (who very clearly must not have ANY testicular fortitude) to try to do CrossFit. And this of course got me to thinking, "Why do I CrossFit?"

As I sat and thought for a moment about why I do what I do, I realized something. Over the last few weeks/months as I have progressed, I have lost site of what I am doing this for, and I think now is a great opportunity to remind myself, and perhaps jog the memories of others. I have been very hard on myself regarding my Zoning, my weights, and my progression in general, and I don't know why. Thinking back on my original reasoning for joining CrossFit, my self-deprecation doesn't make any sense... goals change for sure, but I lost sight completely of what CrossFit is doing for me, and I think it's something I need to keep more fixed in my mind.

With the completion of the CrossFit games, it's easy to sit and think that "Man, I really want to work out like those guys." But the reality is, that for most of us, that is an ideal that just won't happen. Why? Why is that not in the cards for most of us? Because. When we joined CrossFit, we did it for a different reason. I know that when I first picked up my very first thruster, or KB swing, or band for my chins, I wasn't thinking that CrossFit was going to make me the most elite athlete out there and I was going to be able to complete amazing feats and compete in the games. I didn't pick up those weights because I wanted CrossFit and training to become my life like many of those athletes. I picked up those weights because I wanted a change.

Before CrossFit, I was having a hard time walking up stairs, or picking up boxes and other heavy objects without feeling winded and tired. Even though I was swimming in a masters program, I felt weak. I felt sluggish. I hated how much my appearance had changed, and I knew that if I continued at my current rate of weight gain, it would not take long until I had a pretty serious issue. I joined CrossFit because I was sick of Globo gyms telling me that kick backs and pull downs were going to help me with any of the problems I was having. I joined CrossFit because I wanted to live. I want a life where I am not confined by my lack of strength or my body composition. I want a life in which I know that I am healthy and strong, and will live, God willing, to see the day that I get married and have kids of my own. I want a quality of life that enables me to do everything that I want to do. I don't want to be hindered by others ideals of what beauty or fitness are. I joined CrossFit because it's going to make me, and keep me healthy. I didn't join CrossFit because I want my ass to look great in pants. I didn't join CrossFit because I want to be a firebreather. I didn't join CrossFit so I could look at men shirtless in the gym (although gentlemen, that's not a bad thought... work on that for me...). I joined because I had a desire to do something different. I had a desire to better myself in a way that would be lasting and not fleeting as so many stints to the globo gym have been in the past.

CrossFit has given me all of this and more. It has given me all those goals, and many I never thought possible. I can walk stairs, lift boxes, run miles, hoist weights... CrossFit has given me all of that. Not only that, but CrossFit has given me a support system and community of amazing people who have allowed me to become the stronger and healthier person I am now. Amdist the games and standard changes it's easy to forget that we're here, not to be firebreathers, but to be athletes with goals. It's easy to forget that we've made progress and that that progress is worth celebrating. Often times we look at these athletes and compare ourselves to them, wondering why we can't life that much or move that fast. But we can't forget that we are not they, and that we came for a different reason. We need to remember that we have all grown stronger, and healthier because of CrossFit. I joined CrossFit because it gave me my life back. What about you?

I hurt all over...

So, if you've been reading my blog, you know we've done some doozies this week. We kicked it off on Sunday with the 5 rounds of deadlifts, cleans, front squats, and clean and jerks. Then Monday was the pull-up/jump squat ladder, followed by the PR deadlifts yesterday. We've had a busy week! My legs were already sore, but Jerry did me in with his doozy today. I think this out to have been some sort of named workout. This HURT. So now, my legs and my arms are sore. Hence the title, I really do hurt all over! Today's fun, or funishment as Jerry likes to say looked like this:

WOD
For time
800 Meter run
30 clean and presses (55lbs)
30 chins
800 Meter run
25 clean and presses
25 chins
800 Meter run
20 clean and presses
20 chins

You know, the first round of this was actually pretty speedy for me. I wasn't that far behind on the run, and my speed through the cleans and chins, actually put me out the door first before everyone. But that didn't last long. Steven and Leslie are AWESOME runners and soon streaked past me. My running today seemed attrocious and my legs felt like dead weight. I really tried to open up my stride, but by round 3 I really couldn't. I felt good on the presses and chins though. I didn't waste too much time resting. I've been pretty good about that this week. I was able to do the clean and presses in pretty big chunks, which definitely helped me power through them. The chins took me a little longer because I couldn't do big sets after all the cleans and presses. I was a little fried, but overall kept mostly to sets of 4-6. So, all in all, not a bad day in the Blue Room, except that now I can't move. Ouch. :P Oh, my time on this one was 32:35.

As an aside, I'm still bitter about my craptastic fortune cookie.

I will also be in PA for a few days... oh but don't worry... I'm sure I'll be updating and perhaps even stirring up trouble at my local globo gym. :) Hehehe...