12.1 ...7 Minutes in Heaven (or not)

The first WOD of the 2012 CrossFit Games Open is now OVER!!! Woo-hoo!!!! What's the worst way you can spend 7 minutes? Probably doing wall climbs. But HQ would never do that to us. Instead, they give us a 7 minute AMRAP of burpees. Seriously. Who thinks of these?


What I love about the Open and about the Games in general is that so many people did so much better than they thought they would. We had an amazing turnout for the WOD on Saturday morning. It almost made me sad that I wasn't trying it for a second time (more on that below). 


I am so proud of my affiliate. We have 120 athletes registered for the Open! I'm so excited for everyone who is competing this year and who was able to submit a score for this first WOD. And of course, I'm looking forward to our team and individual athletes kicking ass at Regionals!


How did I do? Eh. I got 78. I kept moving the whole time, but I was moving slower than I should have been. Also, I'm injured. I strained something in my ribs last week and it feels like a horse (or a whore, depending on who you talk to) kicked me in the back. So I am trying my best to not do anything and let it heal. This is not easy.


It's especially not easy since I have felt not-so-great about my overall condition lately. So, as of right now and until the end of the Open, I will not have anymore desserts and I will limit my sugar intake. No more cake (that's right). No more chocolaty Larabars. No more fro yo. More veggies, for real this time. I need to get back into the shape I was in last spring. If I'm going to be telling people what they should and shouldn't be eating, I should also follow that advice. 


So what am I hoping for this upcoming week? I'm hoping that they don't go too heavy right away. Because if they do, I will try, and I could hurt myself even more. I'm hoping for another met-con with some reasonable weight thrown in. I'm guessing they'll give us a 15 minute AMRAP with 3 different moves. And there better be double unders. Please, for the love of all things CrossFit, let there be double unders!!!

A Love Letter to GWOD

Since last fall, I've spent an hour every Wednesday and Friday evening with some of the best people I know. If you would have asked me a few years ago if I would have been doing anything like this, I would have rolled my eyes and had another drink. But now it seems my favorite part of the week is Gymnastics WOD.

GWOD

Gymnasty

Or whatever. It's just fun. It is coached by my most favorite coach (I said it) and attended by some of my most favorite people (you know who you are). The intent of GWOD is to work on skills and form. Yes, we do plenty of this (it's good form that matters, not the time, right?). We also do workouts that I never really believe I'll finish (one-armed kettlebell overhead squats - really?). But above all else, and what I appreciate most about it, is that it is FUN.

We do handstands. We do wall climbs. We play on the rings. We do pull-ups. We do A LOT of hollow rocks. We jump and run and climb. We try different things. We realize that we may have many strengths ... but sometimes when we come across something that is not a strength, we can work on it and sometimes ...sometimes we have to laugh. 


If you've ever heard me laugh - really laugh - you know that it is loud and it is natural and it is true. I cannot fake that laugh. My sisters have that laugh. My grandma had that laugh. My niece has that laugh. My friends in GWOD have heard it on numerous occasions.

I remember this mainsite WOD from a few months ago. The main site got so many nasty comments about posting this WOD, which was comprised of a few gymnastics movements. The strong guys hate that stuff. So we did it. 20 minute AMRAP that included wall climbs. Oh, those wall climbs. Sometimes the time just flies. Sometimes, it does not. I looked at the clock at one pointed and shouted, "Only 15 more minutes" and my coach did the honorable thing and turned the clock around so I couldn't see it. "Only a few more minutes," he shouted after that. Oh those wall climbs can be so discouraging.

Something about the class brings out the awesomeness in people. I've seen athletes get their first hanstand push-up (unfortunately not me yet). I've seen a husband help his pregnant wife with pistols (one of the sweetest things I've seen in a long time). And I've surprised myself. I will remember one night in particular for a long time - the rope climbs.


I've done rope climbs before once or twice but never perfected the technique. We worked on it, then started a WOD. It had been a long week. I hardly had anything in me. By the second round, I walked over to the rope and looked at it for a long time. My coach came over and I said I had nothing left. He said I couldn't use my arms - I had to use my legs. I finally made it up there. And for the next round, the clock ran out and I still had a rope climb to do. He looks at me and (nonverbally) said, "Are you going to finish that?" And it took all that I had in me, but I did.


I'll remember that for a long time.


So thanks GWOD, for being my favorite part of the week. I'm sure it's made me a better Crossfitter and a better person, but sometimes, most of the time, it's just fun. Where else can I tell the coach, "I'm injured and can't really do anything right now," and he says, "Show up anyway."And besides, where else could a girl like me hang out with 22 year old guys (who accept me completely for who I am) and listen to dubstep? 

The Open

A couple weeks ago, I took up a personal challenge of trying to sign up as many Eugene CrossFitters for the CrossFit Games Open, which starts this Wednesday (we're currently at 86). Why? I like challenges. I love the Open and what it represents. And I want everyone out there to experience it, too.


The Open is an opportunity for everyone to participate in the CrossFit Games. Starting Wednesday, CFHQ will release a WOD each week that tens of thousands of athletes from around the world will complete and submit their score for that week. If they don't belong to an affiliate, they'll submit a video, like this: 

For Eugene CrossFit, we'll do the Open every Thursday and Saturday. You'll have a judge who will count your reps and make sure that you're meeting the standards. It's hard to explain why it's so awesome until you're actually doing it.


I haven't been the best CrossFitter lately. I'm not really into heavy lifting right now (really, who cares if I can or can't back squat 155lb.? I don't!). I think I pulled a muscle the other day with heavy kettlebells and I'm taking an extended break (which for me means 4 days). My eating has been terrible. I feel like a cow (I know I don't look like one. That's not the issue). 


But I'm still really excited about the Open.


I need that extra motivation. I was in hella good shape last spring. That all went away quickly. I've been trying to catch up and honestly, I've probably been trying too hard. But the Open is just what I need to push myself.


I'm even more excited for my friends who have been training for the past 6 months to a year for this. I know that some who came close last year will make it as individuals to Regionals. I can't wait to see who makes our team. So many people are going to give it their all and it's a great time to be a part of CrossFit.


But what about the rest of us? Those who won't make it to Regionals? You will set PRs. You will be amazing. You will surprise yourself. This is why you signed up:

We're all good enough.

Hey Girl...part 3

And more from your athletes at Eugene CrossFit

And again, Ryan, if you have an issue with any of these, I'm happy to meet with you personally to talk about them. We could hit a WOD together. It's all good.

Hey Girl...part 2

Another round of our CrossFit fantasies... (from the athletes at Eugene CrossFit)

Just think of this during the Open, ladies. 

That's right ;)

We do a lot of mobility work. Ryan's into that.

Hey Girl

This is what happens when creative and bored CrossFitters take an idea and adapt it to CrossFit. Thanks Gabe, Kelly, and Crystal! And Ryan Gosling, if you have a problem with any of these pictures, please contact me directly! I'd be happy to sit down and talk with you about them :)

And many of the ladies will appreciate this one...

And yes, we have many more on the way. 

CrossFit and the Single Girl

I am single. Fact. After a bizarro period of time in my life, I can say with confidence that I am single and I like being single. It also has me thinking about where to find the right guy. Lately, my friends and family have said, "You know Robin, you could date people who don't go to your gym." Sure. I get the reasoning behind that. BUT, when so much of my life is spent at the box, wouldn't it make sense to combine these two areas of my life? It's multi-tasking, right? As with anything, there are pros and cons to the situation. Let's sort them out.


Cons

• What if it doesn't work out? That would be awkward, right? 
• Sure, depending on the situation. Can't people just work out when I'm not there? 
• But you're a coach now. You shouldn't date the athletes.
• Come on. All the other coaches do it.

Are there other cons? I don't know.

Pros

• Common interests!
• I know lots about CrossFit. We already have something to talk about, especially if the other person doesn't like baseball (God forbid).
• We can see each other at our best...and at our worst.
• That's what's so great about CrossFit - we do things we wouldn't normally do and we surprise ourselves and others. Somedays it's like, 'Whoa, I just did butterfly pull-ups!' or 'I totally finished that WOD when I didn't think I could.' Other days, it's more like, 'I just threw out more f-bombs in the last 5 minutes than I ever have in my life, and that person still high-fived me' or 'I have snot running out of my nose and that person's still talking to me.' We know how we do and what we look like. We live with it. And we keep coming back.
• And honestly, people usually see you at your best...or at least that's what they remember.
• Maybe you had a bad day. You didn't get that PR. It's in your head. But that other person saw you try. And they keep seeing that over time. There are so many people at Eugene CrossFit that I ADORE (and I don't use that word lightly) because of how supportive they are to the other athletes: my friends I hang out with socially, my buddies in GWOD, my fellow coaches ... it's an amazing place. What was I talking about again?
• A built in panel of relationship experts!  (OK, maybe not experts)
• BUT if there's someone that catches your eye, you can ask someone else at the box about them. I do this all the time. Actually, maybe we gossip too much. Never mind. This is a bad example.
• Where else would I meet people?
• A bar? A website? Work? Ugh. These are terrible options. And in a place like Eugene, which is defeating to begin with, where else would someone like me look?

I would argue that CrossFit is the IDEAL place to find the next great catch. Take that, mom!

Confidence

I haven't been making significant gains lately and I'm sure I could attribute that to factors that are measurable, like diet. But the more likely reason I'm not making gains is because of the biggest factor that I can't measure: confidence. I want to make these gains so bad, especially in strength, but the truth is that I don't feel like I can do it.


And this isn't something a motivational quote will help with. CrossFit is full of motivational crap. I get it. I know I can do it. But I don't feel like I can do it.


I've been taking Oly lifting classes for the past month to try to get stronger. The first two classes were disasters, with me almost crying in both of them. And in the third class, the instructor said to me, "You looked good. You just need to be confident that you can get under that bar."  I have the strength. My form isn't great and the frustration takes over when the weight gets heavy, and I collapse. I know I need to be more aggressive. I know I have to move my feet. I know this.


And this applies to other areas of my life. I've really been working on what I want to be doing professionally, and what I've figured out is that my confidence has prevented me from doing a lot in the past 10 years. I don't think I'm the best writer or teacher or whatever I do. I'm feeling better about my teaching (I got stellar evaluations from my students last term), but I'm still hesitant to apply to other places. In order to make real money, I should probably get a different job, which would take a whole new level of confidence. It is the most important thing I have to work on this year.


And funny enough, I'm very confident in other areas of my life. I can tell someone how I feel about them in ways that shock my friends. But I have to. What's the point of holding that back? They don't like me? I can deal with that.


I wish I could feel as confident in many areas of my life as I look here:

If I could just stay in that mindset, I'll finally get to where I need to go.

Happy Up Here

A funny thing happened when I went home for the holidays. I flew into Chicago and had a great time. I met up with two of my favorite people and they really tried to convince me to move there. Who wouldn't? It's a fun city, especially for a single girl. And it would help me professionally too, since I'm more likely to find a good job there than I am here. Then I went to my family in Kalamazoo and I thought about it an awful lot. Then I came to the realization...


I'm actually pretty happy right now.


And it feels weird to say this. If you know anything about my past, you know that depression has been a constant in my life and just getting by has been the norm. But recently, my mood has been pretty good. I'm smiling more. I feel good about the future. And the awesome part is that I'm not taking anything for it right now. It's just how I am. 


I attribute much of this to the great friends that I've made here, mostly from Eugene CrossFit. I can't talk about them without getting all verklempt. They know what they mean to me. I also know how hard it is to find good friends as an adult. I'm not willing to give that up.


I also know that I have a lot of work to do. I have big goals for my professional life this year. And it will take a lot of work. But I need to focus on these things. I know I do.


I also have CrossFit goals. I'm joining the Oly lifting class so I can do some major work on my technique and start lifting the weight I should be able to lift. I've started coaching, which means I need to take my own training more seriously. I made big time gains last spring, but I haven't made any major gains since. I need that again.


January is traditionally a rough month for me, at least for the past 10 years. It's the month that my dad died and as much as I try not to think about it, sometimes it just comes up and I get overwhelmed with sadness. The weather out here generally doesn't help. But it is sunny today, so I'll take my dog to the park and get that sun while I can. I know how easily it can go away.


Anyway, I am grateful. And happy. So thanks. If you're reading this, you've most likely had a part in all of it.

Top 5

I have been feeling uninspired in the CrossFit writing world lately, but I've seen many lists today. Lists I can do. And I watched High Fidelity again recently. Here come some lists.


10 Things I Love About CrossFit
10. I'd rather live an active life than a passive life.
9. I hate certain moves (overhead squats, wall balls, rowing) but instead of avoiding them, I keep doing them so I can get better. They won't go away. Neither will life.
8. I can laugh at myself.
7. Statistics! 
6. You try, you do your best, and everyone supports you.
5. Sometimes it's all business. Sometimes it's like playtime.
4. I'm not really good at team sports. In CrossFit, I'm only accountable to myself.
3. Who knew lifting a bar from the ground to your shoulders could feel so awesome. I love cleans!
2. I get to teach it now.
1. All of you.


Top 5 CrossFit Moves
1. Double Unders
2. Kettlebell Swings
3. Cleans
4. Pull-ups
5. Push-ups


Top 5 Least Favorite WODs
1. Kelly (also one of my favorite people at the box)
2. Karen (also one of my favorite people at the box)
3. The Seven 
4. Anything that involves multiple reps of overhead squats. They make me frustrated. They make me cry.
5. That first wall climb WOD with toes to bar, box jumps and wall climbs. I fell on my face before the WOD and tripped over the box on my first round of box jumps. I spent much of the remaining 30 minutes lying on the floor, wondering what I was doing there. 


Top 5 Favorite WODs
1. Annie (my first leaderboard and my first RX girl workout. I love this workout)
2. Helen
3. This partner one with rowing and push-ups we did about a month ago. I don't know why I liked it so much, but I just felt f*ing awesome afterwards.
4. When we did all the lady WODs super-scaled on a Friday. That was so fun!
5. Probably the Games workout from last Spring when you had 5 minutes to clean and jerk 110 pounds. My previous PR was 100. The first time I tried, I couldn't clean it. I spent 5 minutes struggling. A couple days later, I tried again. 2 1/2 minutes into it, I cleaned it. So many people were cheering me on. And it was f*ing awesome.


Top 5 Albums of All Time
1. Garbage - Version 2.0
2. Depeche Mode - Violator
3. Royksopp - The Understanding
4. The Pixies - Doolittle
5. Radiohead - OK Computer

33

I was born in 1978. This may come to a surprise to some people, like the student who recently said, "You're 30???" (No, I'm not) Or the people who guess my age as mid-20s. Or the woman who asked me if I was a student. Or the many servers who ask to see my ID. Yes, I'm 33. 


Jimmy Carter was president the year I was born.
I remember the Tigers winning the World Series in 1984. 
I remember talking about Tiananmen Square in the 5th grade. 
I was devastated when River Phoenix died (don't even get me started on Jeff Buckley).
"Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica was my class song (seriously, they expect me to go to a reunion after that?)
In my first election, I voted for Bill Clinton (I wish I could vote for him again). 
I didn't have email until college (and honestly, I don't think I used much email in college). 


But apparently, I don't look 33.
So what, exactly, does 33 look like? 


I looked through some pictures from 10 years ago, when I was 23, and even though I was kind of a train wreck at that point in my life, I looked all right. But I look younger now. A lot younger. I feel better. I may still party like a rock star once in a while, but I know better than to do it more than I should. (And I know that I should have the right people around when I do it). I have a better idea of what I want in life. I don't know exactly what I that is, but I'm getting there. I also know that if I keep doing what I'm doing, 43 is going to look Amazing.

In my world, this is what 33 looks like, and I am totally, completely happy with it.

Why Are We Here?

A few weeks ago, a friend gave me this magnet:

.

I was reminded of this while browsing through some pictures of me from a workout last week. And while there were some awesome and mostly terrible shots because SOMEONE looooves to take terrible pictures of me during my workouts, this one stood out to me as a moment captured in time.

This was during the Dirty Thirty. I'm standing there, scratching my head, thinking about how I don't want to do anymore wall balls. I didn't include all of the pictures of the ball actually at the line, or me in a squat position. I finished them, of course. I always do.


I feel like I don't have as many of these moments as I used to. Those moments where you look around during a workout and wonder, "Why am I here?" I've been having those before the workout. It's the holidays. It's the end of the school term. I'm tired. And I've been in kind of a nasty mood. BUT I still go. 


Tuesday I was in a foul mood. And I was tired. And I had rowing and push-ups ahead of me. But I showed up, did my strength work. Then we did the workout. And I did amazing. Who knew? My friend talks about the rush of endorphins we get sometimes after a hard workout. I felt that on Tuesday. I can do so many push-ups! I was so happy. Somebody take my phone away before I start telling people how I feel! 


And I wouldn't have felt that way had I not shown up.


This is a tough time of year. Winter here is grey and it is not good for me. And this is just the beginning. I won't feel awesome every day I show up. But even feeling it once in a while is better than nothing.


Are wall balls a metaphor for my life? It depends on the day. They hit me in the face sometimes. I often don't make it up to the line. I get reps taken away. But I also have to remind myself that I've gotten better over the past couple years and I'll continue to get better. There has got to be a better metaphor out there...


Edited to add that it is clear we need a CrossFit metaphor contest. Post your best to comments.

No Curves

I hope that someday we live in a world where women are actually treated as equals. This is not a post about feminism. This is a post about fitness and misconceptions.


While grading papers today, I came across another person (a woman this time) who said something along the lines of women should do resistance training and men should do weight training. I had to step away from it because I was so angry (Ironically, I was also sitting in a Starbucks right across from a Gold's Gym). I will grade this paper and I will be fair. I will also make it clear that women should train the same as men. We might not use the same weights ...actually, there are some women using the same weights as men in our box. But we do the same work the best of our ability, just like men.


I've seen a few CrossFits offer women-only classes. I don't like it. CrossFit is not Curves. We all show up and do the same workout, scaled to our ability. That's CrossFit.


I distinctly remember the first time I did overhead squats at CrossFit. It was a weekday night and I was the only female there. Also there that night was an athlete who has gone to the CrossFit Games, an athlete who is now a coach, and another strong male athlete. And me. And guess what happened when I tried to do an overhead squat with some weight? I fell. On my ass. And I almost started crying. But I got up and kept practicing. And I kept showing up and practicing. And I've gotten stronger. Doing the same workout as stronger younger guys is pretty effing empowering.


Women in CrossFit get stronger.
They don't get bulky.
They can still have curves without going to Curves.
So can we all put away our 8 pound weights and start doing something worthwhile?

Moving from Goals to Achievements

I've used this blog to document my goals and achievements in the past. And I've done a lot in the past couple years (considering where I started, especially). I can RX

• Cindy
• Helen
• Fight Gone Bad
• Annie (duh)
• Fran (barely)

My 5K time has drastically improved and I can run a 10K like it's nothing. I need to remind myself that I have done a lot and I have come far, because honestly, it often feels like I'm not making progress.

So I've listed goals on this blog and in the box, thinking that it will help me reach those goals. I want:

• Handstand push-ups
• A 125 lb. clean
• 24 inch box jumps
• More pull-ups in a row

But what have I done to reach those goals? Not a lot. Do I practice 24" box jumps? I thought about it today, then I didn't. A couple weeks ago, I finally set a PR of 115 for my clean, then mentally checked out when I added 2 more pounds. Come on! That's just dumb! 

So here's the plan. I want to work on my pull-ups and box jumps. These are two moves I can practice before or after a WOD. I just need to push myself (and if someone wants to yell at me while I'm doing it, that will help). I will start with these two moves, then get over my HSPU fear. I have the strength. I just don't have the form.

I've started coaching. So far, it's been fine. No big disasters. Small, manageable classes (mostly people I know and a couple new faces). We've done moves I know well. But I want to become a really good coach. So I'm going to watch videos. I'm going to pay more attention to the other coaches. I'm going to do better. Our athletes are awesome and they deserve it.

Better coaching. Better crossfitting. And lose 10 pounds (more running + veggies). These are my goals. I'm going to get them this time.

Certified

Soooooo.....after a lovely (cold) weekend in Portland and a loooong week of waiting for test results, I can now say that I am a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer. Yay! This is something I've wanted to do for a long time. I love writing and I teach writing, so it made sense to me to teach CrossFit since, well, I love CrossFit. So here is a recap of the past week or so.


The Cert
I sat down for the Cert and looked through my binder and notes. Some of us noticed a short guy in a red sweatshirt and a knit cap walking around up front. Then the whispering started. Was that ... could it be...Heck yeah! Chris Spealler was our instructor! Awesome! He's like, as CrossFit as you can get! 

Our first day was filled with lots of basic CrossFit info and reviewing the 9 basic movements of CrossFit. We ended the day with Fran. Spealler joked at the beginning that we were going to do it right then (like 9am day one) and actually, by the end of that day, I wish we had done it earlier. I was pretty tired and hungry but still determined to RX it. And much to my dismay, I was the last person in my heat to finish and EVERYONE watched me do my pull-ups. They even no-repped me a few times! I got a 6 second PR and finished in 9:01. Fran is not my friend.  And, honestly, it kinda looks like Fran punched me in the face a little.

He's a little stronger than me, but I'm catching up!

Day 2 featured more skills practice, a lecture on nutrition (interesting after being immersed in the Whole 30), and a fun workout involving running, double unders, and kb swings. After lots of fun stuff, we took the test. Full disclosure: I didn't really study for the test. I should have. But I didn't. And yes, I passed. But I've also been doing CrossFit for over 2 years. Still, it was stressful. All of the trainers at the Cert were awesome. I came back energized and all full of CrossFit love. I come in on Monday for some Mobility work and to cheer on my friends through Nancy. And then...


I got sick.


I never get sick. Stupid cold. I tried working out on Tuesday - double unders and power cleans. Awesome! Not so much! I was exhausted through the whole thing and couldn't get my hips to work. Ugh. I had to take 2 rest days in a row this week! Today I'm feeling a little better and I am going to go in. I know I have other hobbies, but I miss my friends. One of the factors that could have caused this setback:


My Poor Eating Habits
Fine. I did the Whole 30. Then I eased back into my life. Then I just went off the deep end. Dessert every night! And a glass of wine! Moderation? What does that mean?


To give you an example, after day one of the Cert, I went back to my hotel and ate at the restaurant. I don't just get one bad thing. I get:

• A burger (with bacon and a fried egg - but no cheese!)
• A glass of wine
• AND A piece of pie WITH ice cream

Why? Why do I do this? Why can't I get one bad thing? Why do I have to do it all? Yes, I was so hungry after that long day, but I didn't need to do this. And I've started to get take-out more and more, which I know I don't need to do (given, my take out is better than fast food, but still).


So I've decided to do a Whole 10. I need smaller goals and some sense of direction. I need to remind myself that I can control myself. Today is day 2. I can totally make it, because honestly, I need to


Do Better
I haven't made any real progress since Spring. Yes, I've set PRs on some benchmarks lately, but they aren't big PRs (a few seconds here and there). I know I can lift more and run faster. I need to have a period of gains and in order to do that, I need to take this stuff seriously. So I need to dial in my eating, focus on form, and take rest days. Lead by example. That's my goal.