(Un)Happy Hour

A few weeks ago Josh and I were driving to Crossfit after work on a Friday. A drink sounded good, as it usually does after work on a Friday, but we were going to Crossfit. No drinks. Our Happy Hour has turned into Unhappy Hour. But it's not bad. I set a PR today with Elizabeth, my nemesis. I can be happy about that.

Things I Will Not Give Up for Crossfit

1. Ron's Island Grill - We didn't have these chicken and rice Hawaiin places in the midwest. They're delicious! It's not paleo. Obviously there's the rice. And then there's the delicious sauce on the chicken. I think they have green salad as a side but I've never gotten it. And a medium is big enough for two people, so hopefully there's another person in the room. Otherwise, a medium is big enough for me. Looks good, doesn't it? 2. Sweet Basil Thai - Definitely not paleo. Yes, there is meat and veggies, but there's also rice and peanut sauce. I have found a salad that's fairly paleo, if you get it without the peanuts. And it's within walking distance for lunch. Perfect! And this is what you should get. Their House Special Curry is awesome. 3. Sofia - Sofia is my favorite girly drink. It's light and bubbly and comes in a little pink can with a little pink straw. And it's named after one of my favorite directors, who I named my dog after. Sofia! Sofia likes to dress as a shark for Halloween. I've had to give up a little of my time for Crossfit, which isn't OK with Sofia, but we're working on it.

A Few Thoughts After Three Months

• I got really, really tired of eggs after the first month. I would hard-boil them and then put them in salads or snack on them. They're easy. But they're boring. I was surprised that my cholesterol wasn't a problem in my last blood tests because it was so high a couple years ago.
• I can't seem to recruit anybody. I'd be a terrible community organizer! It's hard to describe it without it sounding like a cult.
• But it is cult-like in many ways. So many ways...
• I have two six-month goals: Body-weight pull-ups and running a 10K. Totally doable.
• If anybody wants to run the Turkey Stuffer 5K with me on Thanksgiving morning, let me know. Josh will be out of town and I don't want to run it alone.
• I kind of feel bad when other people talk about their gyms because it all seems so silly to me now. Different things work for different people - I know. But I'm as typical 30-something American woman as you can get (sans kids). And I'm from the Midwest - I'm lazy! I've tried gyms and mindlessly worked out on the elliptical machines - but I don't want to be mindless anymore.
• It's OK for you to be a priority.
• I need to start writing more. Not this, not work, but my real writing. I'm a cross fitter - I can do anything - right?
• Fresh oatmeal cookies sound really good right now. Mmmm....

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!

The Really Brutal Week

Fight Gone Bad - Yes! Now this is Crossfit! I was really looking forward to this one. I had no idea how I would do, but I wanted to do it. I ended up with a lot more reps than I thought, which made me wonder if I should have gone the next level up. At the end of the first round, the wall ball kind of hit me in the face coming down and during the second round, I was wondering if I was bleeding in my mouth. It certainly tasted like blood. I was surprised that I even did the third round because I thought I was going to pass out or throw up blood. But I didn't. I was still worried coming home that something was wrong, and that maybe my asthma that I've had in the past was kicking in again. I was still worried going to bed that night, because something just didn't feel right. But I think it was fine. I was OK the next day. I even made it back in the next day. The next day was another incredibly frustrating day. We did snatches, which I apparently can't do. In my first attempt, I fell backwards. I know it happens. I know. But it was still embarrassing. I practiced my back squats, which I could barely do. I just don't have the strength in my abs yet and I try to pull it all together and sometimes it just doesn't work. It's OK to have days like that because then where's the challenge. Your goat is something that is really difficult for you and that you need to work on. Sometimes I feel like I have a whole farm of goats. Wednesday marked the start of another ecrossfit challenge - Helen! Seriously? Right after Fight Gone Bad. Sure. Running, Kettlebell swings, and pull-ups. I totally would have rocked it out if my mental block would allow me to get through my pull-ups. Sometimes I just hang there, swearing, knowing that I have to finish it and that I can finish it. Those damn pull-ups! Thursday was a great night teaching. Really fun class. They're good people. Saturday morning we went to Hayward Field. I'm not good at trying new things, except food. I like trying new food. But I'm not good at trying new things like shot put. It was hard not to throw it like a baseball, because that's the only way I've thrown anything. Anyway, here it goes: Not so good at throwing things. Should try throwing goats. Maybe that would work. After throwing things, we went to the stands where we jumped up the bleachers and ran up them. Fun! Really! The jumping was like box jumps. Another total mental block. As much as I actually like box jumps, I was totally blocked. I made it about halfway up. A few days later I noticed a giant bruise on my left calf, which means I must have missed one of the bleachers. I was going to take a picture, but I'll spare you the gory details. After running and jumping up and down the stands, we did sprints. My shins were starting to trouble me again. Grr. Frustrating. It's all frustrating, but it's all good. It's all good. But all was rewarded when I went shopping for jeans on Saturday. The first pair that I tried on fit. I actually texted my sister and best friend from the dressing room. That's reason to celebrate.

Excuses, excuses

On Sundays I usually sign up for the classes that will fit into my schedule that week and I'm pretty good at sticking to them. This week totally got away from me and I really don't have anyone to blame but myself (and the Tigers). Monday was fine. We did shoulder press, push press, and push jerk. Great. Done! I also signed up for Tuesday evening. So that afternoon/evening was the night of the Tigers/Twins one game playoff to see who could go to the play-offs. The Tigers had been leading the Central Division since May, but they totally fell apart this September and managed to end the season tied with the Twins, who are always good in September. The game started at 2. I left work early to go watch it - I had to. I still had every intention of going to crossfit at 5:15. It soon became evident that this game was not going to end - the Tigers were up, then the Twins were ahead, then they were tied, then there were bad calls. So Josh had his computer and we switched my time to 6:15. Then the game went into extra innings. It was a pretty stressful night. The Tigers lost. They put up a good fight. But by that time, there was no more crossfit and no more baseball. The end. So then I planned on going at Wednesday at 5:45. I met with my volunteers at work at 5 and told them that I had to leave by 5:30 - but they all showed up and they were all so excited and ready to do lots of work that I couldn't go. I felt awful about missing both crossfit and the potluck that night, but I was just overwhelmed. I managed to go Friday evening and do 50 pull-ups, 50 push-ups, 70 sit ups, and 70 squats. I probably could have gone for 100 for the last two, but I was pretty proud of myself for the first two. Then we did another team thing on Saturday. We threw more balls over the beams, but we weren't really throwing them at each other this time. The fear started setting in that my favorite boots may be keeping my shins from getting better. Instead of wearing other shoes, I think I'll ignore it for a while and see what happens. That's always a good plan. Next week, I'll totally pull my life together.

The Work Begins

This week was the busiest week I've had in a long time but I managed to make it through it with 3 crossfit workouts crammed in there. I wanted more workouts, but I couldn't do it. I even called in sick on Tuesday because I felt like I was coming down with something and I just couldn't be sick that week. I had a big event for work on Wednesday evening (which went perfect), I taught for the first time on Thursday night, and I was busy with work all day Saturday. AND the Tigers were completely collapsing during the last week of the season. We were 3 games ahead with 4 games to go - how did we lose it? How? Anyway, the worst part of the week was Wednesday morning with front squats. I can't do them. I tried and my wrists couldn't handle it and I'm not flexible enough to do it. It was really, really frustrating. I hate not being able to do something. I did back squats instead, but I definitely felt defeated that morning. I tried. I can do sit ups and back extensions though!

I Don't Like Volleyball

To be quite honest, I really don't like playing any team sports. I've never been good at them and I end up feeling bad for the other team. This Saturday, we played hooverball, which was taking a medicine ball (6#, 10#? I don't remember) and getting it over the post to the other side, whoever catches it throws it right back. It was all a bit too much for me and I'm sorry, but I didn't have a good time. Then the workout involved throwing them over to our partner 50 times and then rowing 500m. It was a tough day, but I made it. Just don't ask me to be on your team again. My personal life got busy this week, as I made it up to LBCC to get everything set for teaching this fall. I had so much to do for that, but I still made it into crossfit 4 times this week. I like coming in at the 5:15 time because I can go there straight from work and I like the people who also show up at that time. We did a lot of weights this week, including crossfit total, which is good because I always seem to miss those days. I need to have an idea of what I can do. We also did Barbara this week. I did better than I thought I would, even though I did the lowest amount. I finished quickly. I do need to realize that I can do more than I think and I need to start doing more than I think.

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.

Eating on my Own

Josh likes to cook, so I let him. Josh travels a lot, but he hasn't traveled since we started crossfit. This week he went back to Iowa to get some work done. I have a tendency to order out when he's away, which is a really bad idea most of the time. I couldn't really do it this time since I was broke. And I was almost too lazy to go to the store. I'll blame it on my lethargy, but Sunday I looked around the house to see what we had, and I don't know why I did it, but I opened a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, one of my favorite foods of all time. I could barely eat it. Not because it was pasta. Not because it was cheese (kind of cheese, I guess). It was because it was processed. I have gotten so far away from processed foods that I can hardly stand to eat them anymore. It's a good thing! Now that I look back, my eating habits were so, so bad before. I used to eat a bowl of Life cereal for breakfast (I do love Life cereal). Many times I'd bring a frozen lunch to work, which is really the worst. We usually have healthy dinners, but I'd already failed on the first two meals. Not anymore. I've gotten used to making turkey bacon or a smoothie for breakfast and preparing salads for lunch. I try to take time on Sunday to cut up veggies, hard-boil eggs, and do anything I need to do to make it easier for the week. These are my intentions anyway. Not a lot to talk about this week as far as crossfit. I'm over my shock-to-the-system soreness. I did three workouts. My friend visited from out of town and we went to the Ducks game vs. Purdue. Life is getting back to normal, but it's work. Go Ducks!

Back to Life, Back to Reality

My first workout coming back was a 6am lunges/pull-ups/sit-ups/hell combo. Seriously, I was not ready for it. I've done lunges before; I don't know what was so different about these ones, but I could hardly walk for the next few days. I should have scaled back; I know I skipped one round, but maybe I should have just started at a lower round. I don't know. It wasn't pretty. I looked like an old woman hobbling around. I made it in a couple days later for another round of Cindy. Why so many pull-ups the first week back? Why? The first time I did Cindy, I was mad because I stopped at 15 minutes. This time, instead of doing 5/10/15, I did 3/6/9. That helped, but I still stopped after 15. At that point, I was just so angry that pull-ups were ever invented. I didn't end up going on Saturday, mostly because I didn't know what it was going to be (it ended up being an easy 3-3-3 deadlift workout). I was really frustrated that week. I wanted to get back into it so bad, but my body just wasn't ready. I was still out of it, too. My sleeping was way off. In better news, I had another round of bloodwork done, this time it was non-fasting. My platelets were borderline low. Better, but still low. Apparently there's not too much to worry about. We'll test it again in another 3 months. I'm still bruising like crazy and I cut myself shaving once and the bleeding wouldn't stop. I guess I just have to be careful.

Crossfit Europe

I never intended to be paleo in Europe, and I wasn't. Why would I? So here are my eating and exercising highlights of Europe. Our first few days were spent in Paris. It really was a whirlwind three days. I had never been, so I wanted to see as much as possible. I made a list and checked off nearly everything. Josh and I had signed on for the burpee challenge and managed to keep up, as evidenced in this picture: Yep. We're hardcore. We would have been even more hardcore if we would have walked up the Eiffel Tower, but we got in the wrong line and honestly, we had gotten 2 hours of sleep in the last 30 hours. We were exhausted. But we did make it to the top! The best food I ate in Paris was a Creme Brulee. The best site I saw that I didn't take a picture of was a pug sitting at a bar. I did walk up the stairs at Sacre Cour. I did exercise. On to Italy! So my workout of the day for August 22 was wandering around the maze of streets in Verona with my luggage in 90 degree heat looking for my hotel. My mom was already there, Josh was heading up to Rovereto for his conference, I was wandering. It would have been helpful if the streets had signs. Eventually I found it and managed to entertain my mom and her friend every day by doing burpees in our tiny hotel room. I ate gelato every day I was in Italy. I could call Venice a workout since it was so hot, but it was awfully lovely and I could spend so much time there. The only way you can get around there is by walking or by boat (not even any bikes). Ah Venice, I'll see you again. After Italy, we went to Belgium, where we drank a lot of beer and ate a lot of non-paleo food. I hardly remember Amsterdam because it was our last day and we only had one day there. I did go to the Anne Frank house and we spent plenty of time wandering around the red light district. Again, walking was my workout. The only day I didn't do my burpees was the day we flew home. We had a 10 hour flight straight from Amsterdam to Portland. We were so disoriented by the time we got to Eugene, I think I went to bed at 7pm. I enjoyed my time in Europe, and feel very fortunate that I was able to go. Towards the end, I kept thinking about September and how it was going to be a difficult month, not only at work but in my personal life. I would start teaching again at LBCC at the end of September, so I would have to get my life organized. I knew it would be little more than work and crossfit for a while. Au revoir!

Really Great and Really Scary Week

One more week until European Vacation. Have to make this week count. Doctor's appointment Monday am. Weight - 146. Lost 7 pounds. Woo-hoo! Cindy was a major hurdle this week. 20 minutes of AMRAP 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats. I made it 15 minutes, then stopped. When I got home, I was mad at myself because I felt like I should have gone for it. I could have gotten another set or two out of it. But I didn't. Must push myself harder. So Wednesday night, I see that the workout for Thursday is the 5K. This will give me something to think about all day. When I moved to Eugene two years ago, I needed something to do (since I couldn't find work) and I decided that I would be a runner. I did the couch to 5K program and was actually impressed with my progress. Josh and I decided that we would do the Turkey Stuffer 5K on Thanksgiving morning. A couple weeks into November, I must have pulled a muscle or something, because my leg did not feel right. I still went ahead and did the 5K, but ended up walking most of it because of my leg. I was disappointed in myself, but i still had a goal. The following year, I tried again. I didn't train as much as I should have, but I ended up running it in 36 minutes, which made me happy. Then I didn't run after that (I had totally convinced myself that my body wasn't made for running). So here we are in August 2009, with a 5K as a workout. I think about it all day. I get my ipod and start the run. Tommy and I are close the whole race. I ran the first mile and a half straight. I walk a bit after that, then run/walk the rest of the way. I finish in 33:38. I was so happy. I hadn't run in so long and I could still beat my score. I know 33:38 doesn't seem like much to a lot of people, but it was a personal victory for me. My next goal is to definitely run one in under 30 minutes. The next day, Friday afternoon, I received a call from my doctor. The blood tests I had taken earlier in the week came in, and the results were off. My platelets were low. This is why I was bruising easily and my cuts weren't healing very fast. I really wasn't sure what it all meant so I called my mom, who is a nurse. She wasn't really sure either. She called me the next day and told me to be careful and to not put myself in any danger. This wasn't a good call to get a few days before leaving for Europe. So we scheduled a follow-up blood test right when I got back. Not knowing what was going on was really scary. I changed a lot at once in July - diet, exercise, medications. Who knows? I skipped my Friday afternoon workout because I was worried, and made it to my Saturday morning workout. This was it for a while. Onto Europe, the land of wine and gelato!

Away from Home

I had a lot working in my favor at the conference - well, one major thing. The lunch buffet had full salad options. There was a lot of meat and a lot of veggies at the table. So for the most part, I could be paleo. I was as good as I've ever been for snack time - there was a little snack station set up for us in the courtyard. Instead of going for the free Ben & Jerry's that was in the freezer (in the 110 degree heat), I found apples and hard-boiled eggs. So during the day, I was good. The evening was a different story. The first evening, we had an event in a pizza place. I didn't have much, but I did have a little. BUT, I also had a drink (or two). This will be my downfall. On the second night, the event was in a Mexican place. But even before that, I went down to the hotel bar and had what was supposed to be one drink, but this guy who has a lot of money that he gives to us sat down next to me and we started talking sports, and I had another drink, which he ended up buying. So then we finally went to the Mexican place (and yes, we will get some money out of him). I didn't have that much, but I did have a drink, and if I had stopped at one then I would have been fine with the karaoke. I sang 'Copacabana' and had the whole room dancing. Then I totally took it too far and thought I was awesome and tried to sing 'Don't Stop Believin'.' What a terrible idea. Don't drink and sing, kids, especially to Journey. I also tried to exercise when I was there, but it was still 90 degrees at 6am. How do people live here? When I came back to crossfit, we had a fundamentals class where the workout was pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups. I managed to get through it ok. I don't know if I'm getting better yet. But I make it to class and I do the work. I make it three days in a row. I keep going. I also miss crossfit while I'm gone. I think about it a lot. I check the website. It's becoming part of me.

Elizabeth

The hardest workout this week for me was Elizabeth. I wanted to do well because it's my middle name (stupid reason). I just could not get those dips. They were totally slowing me down. My friend Sara's birthday was Thursday, and she invited all of her friends to Adam's Sustainable Table. I did not drink and I did not eat anything I wasn't supposed to. It wasn't easy. Adam's is great about their food, but it seemed like most of the dishes had something I couldn't eat. I think I ended up with the halibut and veggies, which was good, but I know some people ordered some really great food. Next time. Right now, I'm on a mission. This week was fairly eventful. It was stressful at work because of a big meeting on Friday (which ended up working out). Josh's dad was visiting. It was the hottest week ever. Josh's birthday was Saturday. And I had to fly out on Sunday for a conference in Phoenix. And my boss told me that she was leaving. It was all a bit much, especially since my flight from Eugene was delayed and I missed my connection in SF and didn't make it to Phoenix until Monday morning. Gah! Stress is fine. Stress is OK. Stress happens.