I'll Never Be Like Those Girls!

One lesson that I should have learned by now in my 43 years on this earth is to never, ever, EVER say never but have I?  NO!!! :-(  When I began this Crossfit journey I was never, ever, EVER going to go from being a vegetarian to eating meat.  Well, we all know how that went down.  Then I swore, I will never, ever, EVER have hands like these belonging to Annie Bug:

Not me, no way never, ever EVER! That's just gross!  I'll never be like those girls proudly displaying ripped, bloody skin, that's just ugly, painful and disgusting!  I'm not sacraficing my femine, soft, every other week manicured hands for some stupid workout, that's just freakin' ridiculous!  Well guess whose hands these belong to?

(head hanging in shame) That's right, ME and I'm more proud of those little blisters than any pretty manicure I ever received (head held high with pride)!  These blisters were born out of hard work and determination.  They are the foundation for the beautiful strong, upper body I so desire.  I wear them as a badge of honor,  proud to finally be like "those girls" :-)

Last night after my WOD I stuck to my goal of practicing 25 kipping pullups with a band to work towards my 7 week goal of getting 1 kipping without a band by June 26th, the date of the Spartan 300 Challenge final workout.  I started with the green band and knocked out 10 with ease.  At the insistance of my Crossfit sisters Jess, Myriam, and Annie I moved down to the blue band, struggled by got 3 good chin to bars then Myriam insisted that I try the black band, the skinniest and least elastic of all bands.  At first I refused but she grabbed the band, knotted it over the bar and slid my box into place.  With all the girls urging and Jess saying that she would kip alongside me, I stepped up on the box, slid my foot into the looped band, grabbed the bar and started the rhythmic, swinging kipping movement.  To my shock and amazement I was able to get in 2 decent attempts of chin almost to bar before my arms weakened too much to hold me any longer.  All the ladies cheered me and encouraged me not to ever go back to the green band again.  They all agreed that I have the strength, it's just a matter of improving my technique, especially the push away at the top.  Insert Success Celebration here:  YAY!!!  ME!!!

I can't say enough about the Crossfit Cenral Community.  The coaches, clients and admin staff are all incredible!  I never dreamed a workout facility could actually be this way.  I'm surrounded by people that consistently inspire, encourage, and support me.  From my coach Crystal who is always willing to go beyond the call of duty by staying after class to meet with or work with clients who need extra help, holding free workshops,  welcoming us into her home for meetings and meals, to my classmates who encourage me through my workouts when they are pushing themselves to their own limits, staying after class to push me to the next level and inspiring me with their own experiences through their blogs and one-on-one conversation, to the admin people who are always so welcoming of questions and willing to assist, to all the coaches, some of which I haven't even had the pleasure of meeting, who inspire me through their blogs and their own successes and always making me feel welcome with a hello when I run into them at the box, to the owners who have created this incredible community and lead us all,  I want to say thanks to everyone :-)

Last night I did Turkish Get Ups for the first time in my life and I LOVED them!!!  I think I'll definitely be incorporating these into my outside class workouts.  I think the reason I love them so much is that they actually remind me of a yoga vinyasa, the linking together of movement with mind and breath in a dance of strength and grace. These Get Ups are much more my style than a lot of the Olympic lift moves that I find difficult due to the explosive, aggressive nature that initiates the movement.  Just like with the hand blister thing, by CF standards I'm a little bit of a sissy. Take my donkey kicks for example, this is a warm-up exercise that involves jumping into the air as high as you can on one leg while kicking the opposite leg straight back with great force and traveling  forward from point A to point B.  My donkey kicks look more like a flying fairy or a jete and it is quite hilarious and amusing to all who witness it, especially to Coach Crystal who after having us travel as a pack of donkies from one end of the box to the other tried to make me return to the otherside in front of the whole group byself back for her own amusement! LOL!!! :-)

Anywho, we did 3 rounds of Turkish Gets Ups (one one each side) followed by 2 burpees.  It worked my shoulders and arms enough that I knew that taking on the RX weight of 65# in the SDLHP portion of the WOD to follow might not be kind to my wonky right shoulder so I decided that I would go for 55# and it was the right decision. So we did:

5 Rounds:
10 SDLHP
10 Back Squats
10 Pushups

For the life of me, I can't remember my time and I didn't write it down but I know it was somewhere between 16 and 18 minutes and I was not the last person to finish.  I did the push ups on my knees during the WOD to protect my shoulder but did 20 out of 30 on my toes in the warm up.  The last 10 I did on my knees because Coach Crystal decided to pull a fast one on us and made us do the last 10 as clapping push ups.  I let her know that she was sabbotaging my goal of doing all 30 push ups on my toes during my warm up to which she responded with an evil laugh :-)

For post WOD "fun" we partnered up and as one person sprinted from one end of the parking lot to the other the other person did kettlebell swings, upon the sprinting partner's return both of partners did 10 squat jumps alternating this for 3 rounds.  So now in addition to using the phrase "your workout is my warm up" we can also say "my post WOD workout is your workout"!

Fuel Log 5-12-10:

Breakfast 8:00 a.m.

1/2 c egg whites
1/4 c onions
1/4 c green peppers
1/4 mushrooms
1 tsp coconut oil
1 cup of green tea w/1 tsp honey

Lunch 12:00 p.m.
2 c spaghetti squash
2 c spaghetti sauce w/meat

Snack 4:00 p.m.
1/2 Chocolate Hazelnut Larabar
1/2 oz of Fra Mani Salumi

Dinner 8:45 p.m.
2 c spaghetti squash
2 c spaghetti sauce w/meat
2 bites of Mr. X's grilled ribeye
1/4 c Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate

I teach from 4:30 'til 7:15 tonight.  It's usually my rest day but tonight I'll head over to CC to work with Crystal and Jess on Spartan 300 move techniques.  Yet another example of Crystal going above and beyond the call of duty to help her clients meet their goals on her own time!  We love you Coach Crystal!!!