Qualifying

Watch out, ladies of the Crossfit Games! I just did my first handstand on my own. And I almost did a handstand push-up!

I'm catching up.

Playlists

A while back, I wrote a post about Music to Crossfit to (terrible grammar, sorry). This is a subject I think about often because I work out too much and there's usually terrible music playing. Once in a while we play our own music, which can be fun, but when that happens I'm usually thinking about what will play next and if it was the right song to play next. That's just how my mind works.

Full disclosure: I have really bad taste in music. It's steadily been going downhill for the past 5 years or so. Or maybe in my aging, I'm just being more honest in what I listen to. George Michael, Ke$ha ... it's all good. But it wasn't always this way. Back in high school, I had great taste in music and I could make a killer mix tape. I feel now that I'm at Crossfit so often that I should be able to come up with the perfect playlist for a Crossfit workout. But there's a big difference between a playlist and a mix tape.

First, you listen to a mix tape while you make it. You figure out what you want to say with the music, you gather a bunch of CDs or tapes, and you start. You might have a good idea of what should come after "Under the Milky Way", but after you listen to it, you might have other ideas. I guess you could do that with a playlist, but you don't have to. You can just click and drag songs and forget about it until you're listening to the playlist. Then you can change the playlist if you want. You can't do that with a mix tape, not really. A mix tape is forever. I have some in a box in the closet that are 15+ years old...and if I pulled them out I'd probably be brought back to sitting alone in my room in high school, thinking about what to say to that certain someone, which brings me to my next point...

When we're doing a workout in Crossfit, or at least when I'm doing a workout, I'm thinking about how much it sucks and why am I doing this and only 5 more reps or whatever. These are fleeting feelings that will be over soon. The vast majority of my mix tapes were created while thinking about a boy and whether or not he liked me and if I'd ever find out. These are much stronger emotions that create much more powerful music. 

I'll keep trying to come up with some good stuff to listen to during the WODs. But I know where my talent lies. 

Good Artists for a Crossfit Playlist:
En Vogue
Lady Gaga
AC/DC
Guns 'n Roses

Good Songs for the Perfect Mix Tape:
Helpless - Sugar
I Want to Touch You - Catherine Wheel
Under the Milky Way - The Church
Shake the Disease - Depeche Mode

Life & Fear

I was just reading a little book about Art and Fear (specifically called Art & Fear) and came across this thought by Joseph Conrad:

"Fatalism is born of the fear of failure, for we all believe that we carry success in our own hands, and we suspect that our hands are weak."

I actually told someone today about how I can't do a handstand because I'm afraid my arms won't hold me. It's stupid. I have the strength. I just haven't practiced. This is such a simple move and I haven't been able to do it yet. I feel the same way doing an overhead squat. I should be able to lift a lot more weight than I can - I have the strength - I just don't trust myself to do it.

I just watched this show called Party Down (brilliant show, canceled, of course. If you haven't seen it, you should watch it just to see Adam Scott, who's also on Parks & Rec and is awesome and nice to look at). Anyway, Party Down is about a catering company in LA. It's full of actors/comedians/writers trying to make it. But the main character, played by Adam Scott, is a guy who tried acting for 8 years and quit and is now resigning himself to work this menial job in the service industry. And he still gets recognized for a terrible beer commercial. Anyway, much is made about following your dream and not quitting.

Writing is not easy. I don't know why I chose to try it. But I haven't been doing it enough for a while now. I've been out of grad school for 5 years. I have not written anything substantial in 5 years. Some people comment on how impressed they are with my consistency with Crossfit. Sure, I reply. It is such a great distraction from other things in my life. But I need to start dedicating as much time to writing as I do to Crossfit, driving included. No excuses. Art is hard and it sucks. But some of us feel this stupid urge to create something that someone else might appreciate. And it sounds weird but Party Down is the kind of show I would like to be involved with someday. So I need to get to it and not quit.

2

Last month we started a new Spring Leaning Challenge at the box. I don't win these challenges, but I play along and try my best. This year the challenge was much shorter, and in a lot of ways, much more difficult. 

So on February 15 we did a workout called Angie, which I had done a few times before. It consists of:

100 pull-ups

100 push-ups

100 sit-ups

100 squats

And this has  to be done consecutively, so you do 100 pull-ups, then you do 100 push-ups... It's brutal. The push-ups are especially difficult after the pull-ups. Last month when I did it, I finished in 24:26 using a red band for pull-ups and 50 real/50 knee push-ups. It wasn't awesome, but that workout rarely is.


Today I did the workout again, and along with losing 2 pounds, I took 2 minutes off my time. Not bad for a month.


But the workout was completely different today. When I did it in February, I worked out with a bunch of my Crossfit buddies. It was a decent-sized class that day and we cheered each other on. Today, I couldn't make it into the night classes (work seems to get in the way of Crossfit sometimes), but I still wanted to do the workout. I could have come in at 7:30 am, but didn't we just have a time change and isn't that awfully early to be working out? I could have come to the 8:30am class, but that class is kind of intimidating and really, really good. So what do I do? I arrange to come in and do it alone. Just me and the clock and the Lady Gaga Pandora station. I didn't even have a coach to cheer me on (he was doing an intro). I knew what time I needed to beat, and I did it.


Many of us are creatures of habit. We like schedules and consistency. I don't think I'm that way (especially for work. 9-5=torture). But I do tend to show up for Crossfit at the same time on generally the same days. I could go to other classes, but I never do. Why? I like my workout buddies. I like seeing a lot of the same people every time. Some I've become close to; some I don't know anything about besides how awesome they are at pull-ups. But I like seeing them. I could try to change it up and go to earlier or later classes, but for now, I'm good. And I'm still improving. That's good enough for now.

For Sofia

If you read this blog regularly, I'm going to ask that you do something, just one thing, that would mean so much to me. For the second year in a row, my friend and I are raising money for Greenhill Humane Society, a no-kill shelter that does wonderful work in the Eugene community. Last year our team, Tiger Twins fo' Paws (don't ask), raised over $500 in just over a week. We're starting early this year and hoping to raise at least twice as much. If you can, please donate here. We'll be running in Bark in the Park on May 15. It's a really fun 5k with so many people with their awesome dogs.


This is my beautiful girl, Sofia.

I adopted her nearly 7 years ago from a shelter in Kalamazoo. She was scared and severely underweight. It took some time, but with love and trust, she's become my best buddy. She's been with me through a lot. I know so many others have had richer lives because of the animals they've adopted through shelters.


Please give if you can!

Words

My mind has been occupied with reading and assessing and planning as of late. Of course, I still make it into the workouts - it's the best way to avoid doing what needs to be done!

I'm talking about flash fiction today in my last lit class. If anyone's interested in reading a fantastic little story, read this one. Yes, this proves that I don't just read about box jumps and sports bras and whether or not wine is paleo.

The Only Thing Worth Mentioning

I ran 6 miles yesterday in 56 minutes. This is very, very good for me. It is also the longest distance I've run since September. My knee feels it today.


This sums up my current state of mind. My brain hurts. Enjoy.

Cheating

From February 14 through February 25, I was paleo. I ate meat and veggies and nuts and dates (a lot of dates. I love dates. Seriously, go get some dates. They're delicious.) In that short time frame, I managed to lose 3 pounds. Bonus! It surprised me because I never lose weight. But this was also a very specific time frame. Why didn't I just do it for a month? A very special friend had a very special birthday on Saturday and the partying was planned well in advance. It's OK to allow ourselves a cheat day once in a while, right?


So last week my very special friend asks about cake, specifically who makes the best cake. We both realize that we like cake made from a box. I can do that! So that's what I did.

This became a problem.

So we go to the wineries for the afternoon. Everyone has a piece of cake; some have two pieces. Great! I'm still left with well over half a cake. I promise to wrap up a piece for the birthday girl and for another special friend who will be joining us later. Done!


So then later comes and I leave the cake in the car. I manage to remember to give our other friend her piece(s), but leave the rest in the car. Oops.


So I find myself Sunday morning with half a cake. I think, I'll just wrap this up and give it to the people at the board meeting I'm going to this afternoon. And I wrap it up. And forget it on the counter.


So then the Oscars come on and my plan is to sit and stare at the TV and my laptop all night. I don't want to cook - I have cake! I ended up throwing out some of the cake because it was too delicious and I couldn't look it over anymore. I ended up being seriously disappointed with the academy (Banksy! Fincher! Come on!) and overloaded with sugar.


I also gained back all of the weight I had lost. This is why I don't own a scale. I'd be on it every day. I know I can lose that weight again, but these setbacks kind of suck. I want to win this challenge and I have to kick it into serious overdrive this week in order to do it.


It doesn't help that I'm going to this Winery Run on Sunday morning, where we run for an hour and we're rewarded with mimosas and waffles. But the waffles are gluten-free. That counts for something, right?

The Uniform

The bad ass Crossfit women's uniform - sports bra, short shorts, and knee highs

This picture was taken from today's main site post. This is the ideal for many of us Crossfit ladies. 

1. She's confident enough to wear that
2. She looks amazing
3. She's doing pull-ups, which make her look even more amazing!

The women in our box don't wear this kind of outfit. It's mostly old t-shirts, yoga pants, nike capris, or whatever didn't smell really bad. I would like to change this. I would like to make Eugene Crossfit more bad ass. BUT I'm not confident enough to wear something like this - YET. 

First, you have to own it. Not just own the clothes themselves, as in buy them and put them in your dresser, but feel good wearing them. I like wearing costumes and I often go all out. But if I'm going to wear something like this, I can't feel like it's a costume. It's just what I threw on to go work the hell out.

Second, and most important, is that I don't want to show up looking like this:

Nobody wants to see this

I love Britney, but this was kind of a train wreck. I know, I know, most of us would look worse than this in this outfit. But we're not up there onstage at the VMAs, are we?

Why is this coming up now? I have a gift certificate from Lululemon coming in the mail. I could get more capris. Or I could get something ...new. And maybe if I start dressing the part, I'll start acting the part. Could I RX more workouts in short shorts? Is this really a mental thing?

Britney could do some Crossfit. She'd show up in the right outfit. Me, I'm getting there.

Losers

I admit it: I watch The Biggest Loser. It's a terrible show. At its heart, it means well. Actually, the more I think about it, it doesn't. Its goal is for really obese people to lose weight. Good! This needs to happen in epic proportions here in the US. Unfortunately it's like every other reality show in that it kicks someone off every week, even before they're ready to do it on their own. Not great. 


But we really know what the show is, right? (shh....it's a 2 hour commercial disguised as an inspirational weight loss program) I didn't watch the first few seasons, but I'd like to imagine a time when trainers recommended whole foods and a healthy lifestyle with less stress. Not anymore. This show is full of product placement. I hope the contestants get paid for all the advertising they do. If they don't, they should start a union.


A few weeks back, I realized that The Biggest Loser could never hire a Crossfit coach to whip their contestants into shape. A Crossfit coach would never say, "Wow, you've had a tough workout! You should replenish those calories with this yogurt whose second ingredient is High Fructose Corn Syrup" or "That was a tough workout! Why don't you chew this gum so you don't feel so hungry!"


I've seen a couple articles today about healthy eating and fitness, one in which addressed Bob Harper personally. My favorite quote comes from Rob Wolff, who speaks the Paleo gospel.

"Does anyone remember the product for which Wilford Brimley was the spokesperson years ago? Right, Quaker Oats. Does anyone know what Wilford Brimley now promotes? Diabetes testing supplies."

The Biggest Loser is all about promoting products: water filters, storage supplies, processed foods, their own fitness line. They really have an empire now! I just tried searching for nutritional information on their own food line, but got incredibly frustrated and I have things to do today. In other words - I have no idea what goes into their products. But they are making a lot of money. My hope is that they're not pumping their consumers full of more sugar, which leads to more sugar, which leads to...


I came across another blog post today that talks about the C word - Cardio. I used to do a lot of Cardio too. Now I can't say the word without laughing. Women's magazines are terribly misleading in regards to weight loss. Do more cardio - lose more weight! Do "strength" training twice a week! (with what, 8 pound weights?) This blog post isn't perfect, but it does address a lot of the misconceptions women have, i.e., more cardio will help you lose weight. You need to lift weights to lose weight! It's that simple! It's scary but it has to be done! 


I know I've become a snob since joining Crossfit. I know I try to push it on people. Why? It works! I see it every day. I've seen it in myself and everyone around me. I used to be that person reading a magazine on an elliptical machine, just an endless cycle of magazines and ellipticals and wearing the same pants size for years. It doesn't have to be that way. 

Numbers

I don't own a scale. I don't measure my happiness by a number on the scale. BUT sometimes it's nice to be reminded of how much progress I've made, and numbers are a good way to measure that.


When I started Crossfit, I weighed 153 pounds. This was 153 soft pounds. Not a lot of muscle. When I started Crossfit, and changed my eating habits, I lost 7 pounds in the first 2 weeks. Not bad! But that's indicative of any major fitness program. If you truly change how you move and what you eat, of course you'll lose weight! I lost more weight slowly, but it wasn't my motivator. I needed smaller jeans, smaller shirts, and something I never thought would happen, a smaller bra. 


My first few weigh ins actually took place at a doctor's office, for various reasons, but then some time passed when I didn't weigh myself. When I wanted a reminder of my weight, I'd go to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and step on a few of their scales to see where I landed. I've been in about the same range for over a year ...138-141. That's fine. My goal weight has always been 135. That's what I think I should weigh considering my body type. I could lose a little more weight around my midsection, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with how I look now.


So then we start a new challenge at Crossfit - Spring Leaning II. This involves some pictures, a brutal workout (Angie), and a weigh in. I went to the 5:30pm workout last night - after teaching all day and snacking on the drive home. I wasn't expecting anything - just the normal high 30s, low 40s. Then I looked down - 136.4! What? Where did that come from? I nearly high-fived my coach! 


But what surprised me more than the number was my reaction to it. Do I feel any different at 136? Do I look any different? Why was that number so important? And why do I want to get to 133 now?


I heard that other people liked that scale too, which makes me wonder about its accuracy. Would I be as happy if I stepped on another scale and it said 138? 136 was the lowest number I've seen in .... I'd say 10 years. This number shouldn't matter, but for some reason, it makes me feel better about what I'm doing and gives me incentive to do better. I'm just happy I don't have a scale in my house  so I don't have to look at that number every day.

Finally - A Goal Realized

I don't like running. I think running is a good way to measure how much I've improved fitness-wise. I've been doing a lot of running this past year, just to see what I can do. I finished a half-marathon on my feet. I didn't run a lot of it, but I finished. I've done a lot of 3-5 mile runs. It's not a problem anymore. But I really haven't seen a lot of improvements in my times since I got 29 minutes a year ago in a 5K. But finally, FINALLY, I beat that time this Friday.


I woke up that morning and thought that I needed to do a longer run before my 4 mile race today, and that I needed to finally beat that 29 minutes. I went to Crossfit Friday afternoon, got out of my car, hit start on my watch, and started running. No ipod. No partner. Just me and that clock. A minute improvement would have been fine. But I didn't beat it by a minute. I beat it by TWO!!! 26:50! That's huge!!! That's an 8:36/mile pace! Me! When I started Crossfit, my first 5K time was in the 33 minute range. I'm getting faster!! Woo-hooooo!!!


So today was the Truffle Shuffle, a benefit for Committed Partners for Youth. A lot of people come out for this race; it's a pretty great event. It's a 4 mile run. Last year when I did it, it was the longest I had ever run, and I did it in 39:28. I was pretty happy that I did it in just under a 10 minute mile. Today I ran it in 36:48. That's a 9:01 minute mile (my Garmin said I ran 4.08 miles). I really felt like walking during mile 2 - I had a terrible stitch in my side. But I kept moving. Something about numbers keeps me moving. I want to get a smaller number than the one before. So I keep moving.


Now I'm pretty worn out. I'm not even going into Crossfit tomorrow, and I always go in on Mondays. (OK, maybe I know what's coming on Tuesday). But I will take a much needed rest day, then this weekend I'll try to run a 6K in under an hour. No problem.

Waking Up

Many elements contribute to overall fitness. Diet is just as, if not more important than exercise. Hydration and recovery also factor into overall fitness.My problem lately has been sleep. The problem started in early December. When school ended, my schedule became way too flexible and I started staying up late* and sleeping in later. Generally I can go to bed between 10 and 11 and wake up at 6:30. When I don't have a set schedule, I go to sleep and wake up when I please. Strike one.

Then the sheets came.

My mom got me new sheets for Christmas. I loved my old sheets. I got them on sale at Macy's a long time ago and they're super-soft. Maybe these new ones have codeine sewn into them - I don't know. But they are so soft and warm and comfortable. Just one more minute...just one more then I'll face the cold world....Strike two.

I also recently stopped taking a medication that I took in the morning. This medication had somewhat of an alertness effect. I'm glad I stopped taking it. I feel like I'm more myself, but now I'm just sleepier. Strike three.


I've also been working out 5+ times a week. This definitely has made my body tired, but I'm not sure if that's really a cause to my problem. This morning I set the coffee to be done at 6:30, the alarm on my phone, and the alarm clock by my bed. Guess what time I finally got up? 7. I don't know if my body just wants to hibernate or what, but I don't feel much like getting out into the world these days. Maybe the increasing day light will help. Maybe forcing myself on a schedule will help. All I know is that it's noon right now and I have two more classes to teach and it's hard to get my students motivated when I just want to crawl back into bed...


*I won't place direct blame, but this is about the time I realized that Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage come on at 11 and 11:30 pm respectively. If I'm awake anyway...

Rollin'

Sofia loves it when I roll.

Most normal people stretch after a hard workout and that works for them. That's not enough for a serious Crossfit athlete. After a seriously hardcore workout, like Cindy, we need to get out the foam roller and put ourselves through some minor torture. 


We did Cindy two days ago. This was a major milestone for me because I RXed it for the first time. Awesome, right? Last night, it started to hurt. My quads hurt from the 180 squats. My lats hurt from the 63 (RX!) pull-ups I did. And my pecs started to feel the 120 push-ups. Also, for some unknown reason, my calves felt all knotted up. I got out the foam roller for a few minutes and rolled out my calves.


I should step back. Most people love massages, right? I don't. I feel the need for them every once in a while, but they're generally not all that enjoyable for me. They hurt! I know - my body sucks and can't take it. I don't know when I became so sensitive to everything, but massages are not my friend. When massages hurt, the foam roller is bad, bad news.


It seems like each Crossfit box pitches the same stuff (fish oil, paleo, ab mats). I don't know if they're just not creative or if they get some killer deals or what. But foam rollers are those items that you don't see many places but you will see at Crossfit. They're just as important as the workout and just as painful. I know that the knot in my calf will go away, but it's going to take some cringing.


Anyway, I'm in more pain than usual today and I'll still show up at the box. That's how I roll.

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.