Defeat

I felt like today it was me vs. the equipment, and the equipment won. We had a bizzarro workout today, involving these things called Wall Climbs. Most of the movements we do in Crossfit are functional movements - stuff you could potentially do in the real world. We tried to think of how this movement could translate to reality and we were stumped. How often in life are you in a plank position, then moving your feet up a wall until you're vertical? I think of myself as a creative person and honestly, this move has me wondering. 


Anyway, we tried these against the wall in the main room, which felt like it had been oiled down the night before. We moved into another room and decided the walls were less slippery, so we moved our boxes in there and we're ready to go. Then we try the toes to bar move. That involves hanging from a bar and swinging your toes up to touch the bar. We have new bars now in this other room and I can actually reach one of them! Awesome! So I do just that and realize I could do a couple - which was awesome! Then I completely lost my grip as my legs were swinging back and I fell right to the floor, hitting my left knee and my chin. Awesome! Some of the ladies check the bar after and realized that the condensation was a problem there too, and we should cover the bars with chalk and probably not even use that one. Man, the workout hadn't even started.


But I'm a trooper and even though it did hurt, especially my knee, I got on the floor and got ready for the workout. Honestly, I felt like bursting into tears. I had a lot of unrelated stuff on my mind today, and falling on my face didn't help, and the thought of a really hard workout that would take at least 20 minutes was pretty discouraging. But I sucked it up and started. I did these wall climbs the best I could. They weren't pretty. I did knees to elbows, which is a little more reasonable than toes to bar, and I did them on a different bar. So far, I was going through the motions but doing them nonetheless.


Then came the box jumps. I get some serious mental blocks when it comes to these. I've been trying to use a 20" box because I know I can, and I've been jumping because I can. I was stepping for a while, but I know I can jump, so I do it. On my 13th jump I completely fell over the box onto the floor. Great, now I'm on the floor again. I could see a pattern. But I picked myself up and jumped again. I really wanted to step. I really wanted to quit the whole stupid workout all together, but I jumped.


And I finished. I didn't expect to and I don't know if I would have been too upset if I had stopped. En Vogue's "Free Your Mind" came on towards the end, and that actually helped a lot. That's a hell of an empowering song! It was my 5th workout of the week. I had a lot on my mind. But I came in and did it, and that has to count for something.


Here's an idea of what we did, done by the #2 lady at the Crossfit games, Icelandic Annie. If you want to see how I did it, you can imagine me lying face down on the floor, looking around, wondering why I showed up.

Stronger

On Friday, we did a workout that we had done in September, a hero WOD called Jack.

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:

115 pound Push press, 10 reps

10 KB Swings, 1.5 pood

10 Box jumps, 24 inch box

Once I looked it up again, I remembered it. It doesn't look like much, but it is. When we did it in September, I did 55# Push Press, 1 pood KB, and 20" box. I had to switch to 45# after 4 rounds because 55# was just too heavy. I got 8 rounds total.

When I came in on Friday, my goal was to do the same weight, stay at 55#, and get more rounds. I commented to a friend that I didn't feel that strong and that I wasn't sure if I could stay at 55. Well, I did. And I did 9 rounds. I am stronger.

It's hard to see improvements day-to-day, especially when you go as much as I do. But it really does happen. Crossfit gets harder because you make it harder, and by doing that, you get stronger. It's nice how that happens.

And I did 6 pull-ups in a row the other day. Real ones. Very real ones.

Stick to the Plan

I've started a new blog: http://sticktotheplan.wordpress.com/. This is a place where we can share recipes, goals, and tips for eating right. It's also a place to support each other as we try to do the right thing when it comes to eating. I can show up and do the work at the gym 5 days a week, but my eating is crap and I know it. Support is crucial when you're trying to make real changes.