Buh-bye fruit, it was nice knowing you.

Yes, it's the end of the road for me and my faves, strawberries, blackberries, and pineapple. After some cyber-stalking, and googling, I have come to the conclusion, that those who are most successful at this thing we call CrossFit, don't really eat a whole lot of fruit, if any, really. Bummer. I love my sweet treats. After the fruit I have in my refrigerator is gone, I'm not going to buy anymore until the Spartan Challenge is over. I'm hoping it will improve my overall performance, my body fat percentage, and perhaps, curb the dreaded sugar "crazies" I sometimes fall victim to. My normal sunny disposition (hey, quit laughing) will possibly be absent during this time, I will try my best to remain positive. *Sigh* this is NOT going to be fun.

Where's the Oomph?

I've been thinking a lot about my CrossFit WOD's, and why I may start with gusto, then peeter out in the middle, and by the end, I'm just so grateful it's over, that I want to collapse. I know I'm not alone in feeling this way, and performing this way, but I need to figure out how to dig deep when I feel like I've got nothing left, and finish strong. I've been doing small group training with Zach on Fridays (with Lory and Andrew), and have been getting my ass handed to me each time. My performance in yesterday's WOD was a prime example of what I'm trying to stop doing. First things first, "the WOD":

30 Deadlifts (65#)

20 Hang cleans (65#)

10 Push press (65#)

4 Sled runs (90#)

Oh, and FIVE ROUNDS of it kids, good times! :o)

So as usual, Lory wiped the floor with me and Andrew. She is a badass. A sweet, yet strong-as-shit badass! I have thoroughly enjoyed working out with her, and need to take a page from her book on how to take a WOD, run with it, kill it, and finish strong. Having said that, hey Lory, how do you do it?

Anyway, I made it through the first round fine, then started slowing down during the second. What's happening here? Sure it was hot (who cares, we were all equally hot), my thumbs tore (who cares, it's CrossFit, that shit happens all the time), I'm getting tired fast (again, so what, suck it up), but it happened. I felt like I was "done" and hadn't even finished round 2! WTF??!?! There were so many rounds, I'm still not even sure I made it through all 5! (Really, I'm not sure I did, which leads me down another path, why is it so hard to keep track of what you're doing in the middle of a WOD? Why does everyone else seem like they're on top of their rounds and I don't? Why do I think I haven't done the whole WOD? Why do I feel like if I'm performing well, something must be wrong?) I finished in 32:14, more than a minute and a half (maybe 2 minutes?) behind Lory, and I was DEAD. We all were. Zach told us he felt like kicking our asses, and he delivered. I kind of like that he doesn't give us a time cut-off, I say "kind of", because it's great to finish a WOD, but then it means you have to actually finish the WOD. The end is when you finish, and only when you finish. Like I said, good times!

I still wonder where the energy goes? I'm still trying to figure out how to find that extra something that will push me through the WOD until the end. Where is the oomph? I need to find it.

A CrossFit "mental health" day

So last nights WOD probably won't go down on my lists of favorites. 21-15-9 Hanging snatches and OHS. I've been learning all about the "regular" snatch for the last few weeks, and feel like I've got the hang of it, at the very least. But then the hanging snatch had to come into play and wreck all of the happiness and joy I had for snatching. I know CrossFit is great at exposing ones weaknesses and all, but DAMN! I felt like the biggest wuss on the planet last night. I only did the 35lb bar. I tried the 45lb one, threw it up over head once, and quickly psyched myself out of using it in the WOD. JDP told us to get our bars ready, and I just stood there, with my 35lb bar of wussiness in front of me. He looked at me, looked at the bar, looked at me again, and I shrugged. Meh. Yes, I was going with 35lbs. I finished first (6:14) while everyone else struggled with their heavier weights. It felt good to finish the WOD for a change. It felt good to yell "TIME" before anyone else. Yes, I used a light weight, but I'm claiming yesterday as a CrossFit mental health day. Sometimes it's nice just to finish.

So I'm feeling a bit wussy right now...especially after seeing that my team went out and worked their butts off doing a WOD after the 2 hour Spartan Seminar. I was really fried though. I had already done 4 days that week, plus the seminar on Saturday. I know, whine, whine, whine. But, I felt really guilty after I asked Travis if I could count the seminar as a workout for the week. Guilty enough, that I ended up doing one of the shorter WOD's for the week, after some rest and some lunch! So 6 workouts last week, whew! My massage therapist worked her magic, and I'm as good as new, and ready for what the week will bring!

The "Positive's" from last week: 5 reps of my former back squat PR (145#), snatch after snatch that went over head and stayed over head (and even made Zach happy), in bed in time to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep every night, off of facebook by 7pm each night, first negative HSPU's on Saturday. Thanks to Jen Cardella for coaching me through them, and saying to me, "nothing bad is going to happen" while I was doing them.

This week I look forward to more work at SICFIT, another PT session with Zach and Lory, and push-ups with my X-Vest on...50 unbroken? Not yet, but the challenge has just begun.

Spartan Challenge

Ok, so the benchmark WOD has come and gone, thank GOD! I didn't do as well as I had hoped, I made it through 48 floor wipers before the 20 minute cut-off. This was the first time I had ever done a floor wiper, and the verdict is...they weren't so bad. They weren't fantastic either, but I was worried all for naught. I also felt pretty good once I realized that very few of the women took on the elite weight of 95 pounds, so YAY me! I definitely need to work on speeding up my push-ups and box jumps. I'm still a little surprised I got bogged down in those, but this is CrossFit, there's always surprises.

WOD---Spartan Challenge (20 min. time limit)

25 Pull ups
50 Dead lifts (95#)
50 Push ups
50 Box jumps (20 inch)
50 Floor wipers
50 KB clean to press (12kg)
25 Pull ups

Body comp stats: 142.2 lbs (gasp!), 26.2% body fat (which I still am wondering how this is possible, because I ended the last challenge at 17%, go figure).

7-week Goals: 1-rep snatch @ 75#, wean myself off the soy sauce so as to have the most "Paleo" diet possible, computer off at 7pm (although I seem to have thought it was 7:30pm, my bad) and in bed by 9pm (Sun-Thurs), so I can get 7-8 hours of sleep each night.

Spartan Challenge

So the challenge starts tomorrow with the benchmark WOD. Am I ready? I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Oh boy, I've done it. Started a blog, finally. I still have a lot to learn so bear with me!