Distracted

The good news is that I've lost10 pounds since July. It doesn't seem like much when I say it, but it's made a noticeable difference. My thighs are a lot thinner and my waist is much, much smaller. I'd still like to lose another 5 to get to the weight I think I should be. I'd even venture that another 7 pounds would be fine. I know how to lose it and I might make a concerted effort in January. I don't want to gorge myself on holiday treats the next 6 weeks, but I don't want to deny myself anything either. It's all good in moderation. The bad news is that I have a potentially scary health problem that's become more complicated this week. I'm not sure what the problem is right now, I just know what it's causing, so I don't want to say anything before I know for sure. I should know within the next couple weeks and hopefully I will have nothing to report. Because of this and a number of other things, I have been distracted this week. I only made it into the box 3 times this week. It's funny because I usually want something to take my mind off of everything else, and crossfit is perfect for that, but because much of the distraction had to do with my health, I chose to stay away. Monday was a workout that included something I'm good at - double unders! The workout was 50-40-30-20-10 double unders and sit ups. I had a respectable time, but not good enough for the top 5 women in the gym. Hmm. The sit ups slowed me down a bit and my time would have been better had I not slowed them down. It was still a good time, but it could have been better. On Tuesday we did a whole hell of a lot of squats, push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups. Yuck. The push-ups slowed me down again. I thought I would hurt more afterwards, but I felt OK. The original workout had us doing 25-50-75 of each and there was no way I was doing 75 push-ups. I did the 25-35-50 workout. It was respectable. I did what I needed to do. I made it in for the Saturday workout, which included a Baby Murph. Again, the push-ups slowed me down. But it was a hell of a lot of work for 10 minutes. I probably shouldn't be running right now, and I really shouldn't be doing double unders. I need to give my shins time to heal and they just aren't. I'm going to skip the Turkey Stuffer 5K this year, although I want to run a sub-30 minute 5K so bad and I know I can do it, I just shouldn't do it right now. So frustrating. Thanksgiving is this week and I intend on making it into the gym at least 4 times. I don't have anymore excuses. I don't teach this week. I'm not in charge of making a big dinner. I just have to show up and take care of myself, that's all.

Go Phillies!

Earlier this week someone at work asked me how much weight I've lost. The truth is I don't know. I haven't weighed myself since August. My pants certainly feel a lot looser. I know I look different. But I don't know the number. Not yet. The workout on Monday didn't seem bad at the time, but then my forearm started feeling weird a couple days later. This arm - I don't know. See, I fractured my arms in a bike accident back in 2000. Everything's fine for years. Then this January my right arm starts looking and feeling weird. It was kind of red and felt ... I don't know. It just didn't feel right. I told my doctor and then went to a sports medicine guy. I don't know how it happened exactly. It may have something to do with some wine and some kettlebells in our house, I don't know. Anyway, the sports medicine guy didn't really know either. But it got better on its own. So this week it started hurting again. Maybe I put too much pressure on it when I was doing my pistols and hanging onto the rings. I don't know. Stupid arm. The power cleans the next day probably didn't help either. Whatever. Saturday morning was the ecrossfit workout test multi-wod bonanza. Friday night I went out to the movies (District 9 - so good) and to eat with friends, and managed not to drink anything or eat anything too horrible. Good work Robin! I did better than I thought in the 4 activities. I had no idea how fast I could run a mile, but now I know it's 8:50, and I definitely think I can do better. I felt good at the end of the challenge. I did 53 double unders in 4 minutes. Again, I hadn't thought about my shins in a while, but the double unders reminded me of how they were doing. Anywho... I know I need to start decreasing my resistance and increasing my weights. I think I'm ready for that next level. I'd also like to lose a few more pounds. We were wandering through Bed, Bath, and Beyond and I stepped on a scale. I know I had on more clothes than I did last time I was weighed in August and I was wearing boots, but I wasn't crazy about what that scale said. I know how to lose weight. I've proven that I can do it. Now I just have to commit. BUT, it's fall and I love sweet potatoes and I won't give them up! I'm not talking about sweet potatoes with all sorts of sugar and crap on them - just sweet potatoes. Maybe a little bit of cinnamon. And the Phillies are going back to the World Series! Woo-hoo!

Breakthrough

Life was a little more normal this week and I felt like I had a breakthrough on my pull-ups. I had seen people do the kipping pull-up but it never worked for me. I was always so frustrated with it. But for some reason, something clicked this week and I was able to use my body to get myself up. It all started coming together. There was another round of Elizabeth this week and I did better than my first shot at it. My dips were also a lot stronger. I'm starting to be able to hold myself up better and I feel like I have control over my movements. With the new varying warm-ups, I was able to try double unders again. And I figured it out. I could actually do a few in a row. The problem is my shins are starting to hurt, and the double unders just kill. So I know I can do them - I just shouldn't. I also passed on a potluck this week. I believe the them was comfort foods and I was going to make a really good mac and cheese. But I realized that I shouldn't and I wouldn't be able to eat much there, so I passed on the whole thing altogether. My eating hasn't been great since I've been back. I'm getting into the candy jar at work again. I know how it makes me feel afterward, but I just can't stop. It's all in my head. I need to get past it. I also stopped doing the burpee challenge because I kept forgetting, then I'd have to make it up another day. It was also really messing with my back. I don't feel bad about giving up on this. I just wasn't feeling right.