Week 51 – Holiday Thoughts

There are always changes in life. I think that Christmas time is a time to review your life and appreciate the great things that have changed your life. I am grateful for the people in my life. I really believe people are brought into your life to teach you something. Everyone has something to teach someone else. My coach teaches me that strength is more a mental game than a physical one. My partner teaches me patience (anyone who knows me knows this is not my super power). One of my friends that I work out with teaches me that it is ok to start over. There are countless others who teach me humor, love, respect, and hope. I can only hope that I am able to share my creative outlook, humor, and grace to others.

Yes it has been a while since I went to the gym but I am getting back into it. I did complete the challenge and lost 15 pounds. I am trying to keep up with it but it is not always easy in the holiday season. I walked in this morning to cookies sitting at my desk which of course is my weakness. Ice cream is another one of my weaknesses. So I ate a cookie for breakfast which, as I have stated many times, it contains everything I was going to eat for breakfast. Then my Jewish friend brings in Almond cake. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop eating wheat. So yes I ate a slice of cake. I mean if you are going to go off the wagon you might as well go big. I have been doing CrossFit for a year now and I love it. I have gotten pretty strong and my clothes fit better so it has been a big help. I do apologize for the lack of writing but I have been busy at work (yeah I know, how rude). I hope to write more later this week but we will see. If not, have a happy Chanukkah, Merry Christmas, Funky Festivus, Krazy Kwanzaa, and the best Boxing day. Until next time, cheers!

Week 29 – Try Something Different

Sorry for the delay in getting this posted but I have been super busy. Between work and trying to figure out a plan for my photography it has been pure chaos. It is these times of chaos that I need the stability of something like CrossFit and I have really enjoyed my time there. I have started physical therapy and my foot is getting better. I was able to do a kipping pull up but when I tried it today my shoulders were too tight so instead I just hung on the bar and relaxed for a bit. I have also tried a new meal plan that is delivered to my box. They are fantastic and you can check to see if Custom Fit Meals are in your area.
My workouts have been pushed back to where they were thanks to clearance from my doctor and the promise of going to physical therapy. There are days when I feel like I don’t want to go and other days where I am excited to go. It is just what ever energy I have and the stress at work. I have also picked up yoga twice a week. I did Saturday and Sunday and the first class was really difficult. I thought yoga was supposed to be relaxing and getting you back to balance but that was not the class I went to on Saturday. Sunday was taught by my good friend, Katie, and it was relaxing and some stretching which was not easy (I have issues with stretching in that I don’t do it). I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy. Cheers!

Week 25 and 26 – You Are the Only One That Matters

Well I have a few friends that have posted the video from Always about Throw like a girl (in case you haven’t seen it you can find it here). I find this interesting as I was raised by a herd of women and they did not depend on anyone but themselves. I was brought up to believe in myself since you are the only one that matters. Throw like a girl or run like a girl was never an insult to me. I was taught to throw a baseball (yes not a softball) since my step dad taught baseball to boys. I threw so hard in junior high that a girl tried to catch my pass without a glove and seriously hurt her hand (that was a note “home” that was never delivered). I was not allowed to play anymore which was fine with me because I was horrible at hitting and I didn’t really like baseball. It was Texas after all. So instead I ran laps on the track. When it came time to do the fitness test I ran faster than some of the boys. Up until I was 23 I was able to out run men (not all of them but a lot of them). Once again, running like a girl was not an insult. Now I am surrounded by strong ladies. They are a great support group and the amazing thing is they are not only physically strong but mentally strong. Always remember that it is not about what others think of you but what you think of yourself. You are the only one that matters. If you find yourself surrounded by people who are negative or do not support you on your journey through life or insult you, you should find better friends.

Now on to the workouts… We did Fran at the beginning of this week. Yeah that was drop dead serious and by the last round there was no breaking it up it was just get it done. I think that was the best plan of attack as I just wanted to be done. My foot is getting better but I was restricted to no jumping or running. I have been modifying most of my workouts with things like ring assisted mountain climbers instead of burpees, bike or rowing instead of running, and one leg hops for anything that is jumping related. I have another week before I go back to the doctor but my foot is getting better. I am also looking forward to watching the Games online. I have not been going every day since I want to give my foot a break so I try to go 3 times a week with walking on the days that I am not at the box. I also sit at my desk and do foot exercises and stretching to keep the foot moving. Cheers and happy lifting!

Week 24 – Tomorrow is Another Day

Well I had my follow up appointment and I got super lucky in that my doctor has mentioned that I should be able to use my foot more. I was cleared to go and use a stationary bike but absolutely no spinning. I was also not cleared to jump, run, or hike just yet. These past few weeks have been horrible for my mental state. I am happiest when I am running, biking, hiking, lifting, and pulling. In other words, I am not happy if I am not at the gym doing physical activity. I only went to the box once in my 3 week rest period and just that hour was the best hour of my week. The tear is healing but I am now required to use my foot more but I still have to be careful as it is still healing. Here are a few things that I learned while I was required to rest. First, if you don’t like what you see in the mirror, don’t beat yourself down, get a new mirror. Your reflection should not be a source of self hate. Sometimes you see yourself reflected in others and the negativity they have makes you feel bad about yourself. This is an opportunity for you to find a new friend. This person is not your friend if they make you feel bad about yourself. There is a difference between finding a weakness and feeling bad about you. Do not confuse these two ideas. It is ok to not be perfect. Second, you are where you are. This was never more apparent until now with my injury. I must accept the fact that I will not bounce back as that is not how the human body functions. Lastly, all bad things that happen do not have to make you stop reaching your goals. In other words, when you are in juried take the opportunity to make the other area strong. This is not the time to stop reaching for your goals just change direction. As always I am grateful for my friends and family that have helped me though this difficult time.

Tomorrow is a new day and my first day back after a solid week off. I will be doing a modified workout and really look forward to working with the ladies who I have missed (Nurse Jackie, Joanna, The Heather’s, Ariel, and of course Keidy). My birthday was awesome and I even got some CrossFit gear such as shoes (my favorite aunt), socks, and a Reebok gift card. I got my Polar watch battery changed and started packing my Polar heart rate monitor. Watch out because now I am going to be awesome! Have you ever had an injury that took you out of your daily routine? How did you deal with it? I think that I might be able to get back to my routine but I hope that it will all return to normal soon.

Week 23 – What happens when you sit

So during this time when I am forced to sit and think some odd things have come up in my mind. Addiction, love, passion are all things that come from the same space. We all have these things and some of us express them in destructive ways but others focus that same passion and energy into healthy things. I have an addiction to fitness. I always have. There is something in the competition of whatever that drives me. When I got sick a few years back it put me into a depression and I gained weight. I have had a lot of time to look over my life. When I was in high school I was happy on the track. When I lived in Austin I would go out every single day and ride my bike. It was a type of meditation and calm. Rain, shine, wind, Saturday, it didn’t matter to me what day it was or what the weather was. In the cold I put on long pants and in the heat I put on shorts and packed extra water. I have been doing CrossFit for 6 months now and it is my meditation. It is my peace in a world of chaos. This injury has slowed me down but I am not out. I do push-ups at home and I do one legged squats at my desk. I was down for a full week and the horror of stopping was so over whelming that it is unexplainable. My trainer said she would get a program together for me so that I didn’t use my foot. It is so great when you find others who understand your need to move and push yourself. The probability that I will be out for most of the summer is very high but I am going to fight it. In talking with the doctor he said take it easy for 3 weeks and he will check in with me. Next week I go back for him to see my foot. I have done everything and more than what he said. Rest, Ice, Compress, and Elevate and repeat. My swelling has gone down on my foot and I am hopeful that he will take the original estimate of 8 week and reduce it.

I did go to the box this week and I think it was the first time I was sad to not do burpees. Yes that is the first time and the last time you will ever see that. I am hoping to go on Friday as well with my ladies. So here is to a new week, a new lease on life, and the ability to do more today than I did yesterday. Cheers and happy lifting!

Week 22 – On Pause

So there was an interesting thing that happened on Sunday. There was a wild ninja that broke into my house and I attacked him before he got to the baby kittens. No that’s not true. There was a circus in town and their bear had escaped and was terrorizing my neighborhood and as the wanna-be-superhero I sprung into action before the trash was bear handled. That’s not true either. I really wish it was something as exciting as a ninja bear or I was attending the open call for America’s Next Top Superhero but in actuality I caught the edge of the step and fell the rest of the way down the stairs. All in all I have a “spring” in my step. Yes that is right, I sprung my foot and am currently out of commission when it comes to CrossFit but I am just too stubborn to really stop exercising. I am currently working on an upper body workout that allows me to not use my foot but still workout. I was told that I might be out of commission for 6 to 8 weeks but as the all famous Tony Hawk once said “You are going to have to fight me”. I cannot just sit still anymore.

The big goal for this week and next is to focus on the healthy eating and build the upper body strengthen. This will allow me to get strong without putting the stress on the ligaments in my foot. I will continue to post and keep you updated on my progress including pictures and stats. Also, I am working on trying my heart rate monitor (HRM) from polar again to track my progress.

Regional Photos

Here are some of the images I took at the regional competition. These athletes were amazing to watch. First let’s start with the ladies doing a strict handstand pushup. So you start in a handstand and drop down to touch your head (believe it or not this is not the hard part) and then push yourself back up. Here you see the ladies all in the starting position.

One of the things the athletes had to do is a handstand walk (sounds like a lot of handstand work but it was just 2 events that had handstands and there were 6 events). Here you see the men trying to get ready for the handstand walk. Sounds simple enough but it is not.

This is the first part of the event which was 3 tries at finding your max weight of a hang squat snatch. Yes it is a funny word but a lot of weightlifting words are funny. Here you see the gentleman preparing his bar to lift.

Next is a picture of my coach about to start the workout that called for a legless rope climb. This is you have to climb a rope without using your legs. It is more about using your hips in a similar manner as a kettlebell swing. She did great at this event! How can she not with arms like that.

This is the women trying to push-up from the handstand push-ups. You can see the muscles working trying to get the body back up. Not easy to do and not easy to watch.

This is a great image for shoes. I have a shoe issue and I loved all the bright colors that these men are rocking. Could be an ad for Reebok!

Here is my coach Keidy again just happy to be competing. So many of the athletes were just happy to be at the regionals. I was excited just being there to take pictures. These athletes really made my job easy.

Lastly, this was one of my favorite parts of the whole competition, these athletes would finish a workout and get up and go support and coach the other athletes. Yes, that is right, they got up and helped their competition complete. This simple act costs them nothing and makes them a better athlete. It also makes the athlete who is still working know that everyone is supporting him. Being in this position myself a few times it is really hard and you just want to quit but sometimes you have to push through and just finish.

Week 21 – Sometimes the strongest person is the one that lifts the spirits of others

I was lucky enough to go to the regional games this past weekend. This was truly inspirational on many levels. First, it made me feel weak and strong at the same time. I felt like the weight these athletes lifted was amazingly heavy and some of them made it look like nothing. It made me want to push myself to get better. The workouts were tough (some of them were designed to not be completed) but the ladies and gentlemen pushed through it. One lady even set an event record and didn’t even look exhausted. It made me feel strong because every single person that was in the regional competition had a moment of weakness. Even the strongest among us has a point of weakness. Second point of inspiration is that these ladies all started where I am right now. The road to success is not always easy so don’t ever give up. Give it your best and some day you will be the best. Lastly I got to take pictures of the athletes in the North East. The beauty of these people is in the work and effort they put in day after day after day. I really feel like capturing the moments of these athletes is what I am supposed to do. I see images of athletes and for whatever reason the photographers smooth out the skin and muscles. This removes everything that person has spent years working on. Sara Hill Mass and Rachel Goldenberg are just some of the amazing ladies that have a muscle definition that is without words. I hope that maybe I can get a chance to take some photos of them and of course eventually be able to take photos for Reebok. I want to thank my friend Heather for driving me to the regional competition. Of course, many thanks to my friend, my coach, Keidy for always being a great coach, a spectacular athlete, and allowing me to take photos. It is not always easy to be the focus of my lens and I appreciate the time you have allowed me to spend with you while working out. This is your personal time and to allow me in is invaluable to me.

The goals for last week was to get all my gear ready for the regional competition so I was a bit of a slacker and only worked out 4 days. I didn’t even go to my gym to work on my pull-ups. This week I have to get focused on getting to the box and eating clean. I need more time taking photos of athletes and I need to get that scheduled. This summer I am going to use the weekends to get out and see some of the areas around me and build out my athlete portfolio at the same time. I have to get back to my routine and work on building a better version of myself. I have to let my inner athlete come out. Here’s to another week of greatness…

Week 18 – What Is the Cost of Sitting on Your Ass?

So I have been very upset that I have only lost 10 lbs over the past few months. There was the argument that I had with the bathroom scale, the steamy discussions with the bar of soap in the shower (what the hell is that? Oh right I have one on the other side so it must be ok as no one has twin tumors), and the odd winded talks with the dog in the backyard asking him if I look fat (FYI, he is a true gay man and just tilts his head as if to say “I love you no matter what size you are”). One of the ladies in my class has lost 20 lbs in a few months time. I love that she was able to lose weight and super proud. I had to stop myself today while doing plyo ski jumps and think I could not do some of these things in the prior month. My recovery time from cardio is much smaller (usually I can get it together in about 3 to 6 deep breathes). I do still get annoyed when I have not lost a lot weight but then again I didn’t gain this weight in 4 months. I am just a little down today but I will go home, have a nice healthy dinner, go to bed, and wake up to start over. It is a day by day effort and some days I am up and feel great but other days I am down but those down days pass. I just have to look at the price tag on being healthy. That price tag is work, dedication, and commitment to a goal. I have put my goals in place to push myself and they started small but they are getting bigger. There is more time before I get to the goal and I think that is part of my frustration. I have to keep going and remember that the path to greatness is paved in failure. Sometimes you have to fake being great until you just become great. So I stand in a Wonder Woman stance and hope that one day I can be as strong as Wonder Woman.

Time at the box this week has been awesome. We have been doing a few workouts that are similar to what we did before so you can track how much you have improved. I feel like I have gotten faster and faster at different things. The first thing I noticed that I am getting faster at is my jump ropes. I am consistently doing about 2 for every second which means in a 2 minute window I can do over 150. I even got 2 double unders in a row.

Cheers to all my friends and followers out there and here’s hoping I can fake it until I make it…

Week 17 – Is Today Dodgeball Day?

This past week was tough. I was tired, had a bunch of stuff to try and get through this week at home and on top of everything else, my partner (the stabilizing factor in my life) had to leave on a business trip. The last time he left I was attacked by flour, had a cat escape, and a few other odd things. The cats never go out the front door but Fred just decided “Well the tall chap is no longer here and I can’t take it so I must go out into the world and find him” (yes I believe my cat is British). I am still unclear as to why the flour attacked me but that feud has continued from that point forward. So before he left I was told I could not go into the basement for fear a ceiling tile will fall on my head (would not be the first time), food processer is off limits as is open fire (this has been a long standing agreement between him and my mother), and minimal time in the pantry. Of course because of my job I am always finding loop holes and I had to cook dinner. Seeing as how I am only 5’4, on a good day, cooking in my kitchen involves gymnastics. I had decided to try a Mongolian Beef recipe which called for a crock-pot on the top shelf which required a modified muscle up and a dismount. I managed that task pretty well and nothing weird happened like the fridge falling on me so I thought I was good to try to use a knife. All in all, this week was pretty much injury free, dismounts were AWESOME (sure the Russian judge might have given me a 5.7 but hey), and I got to eat all the foods that my partner hates. I did try to cut out candy with a few false starts early in the week but so far, 4 days without candy. I am also on my third week without wheat. I have started this week pretty well as I have my protein packs that taste like Mounds candy bars. The weather here has been horrible (rain almost every day) and it makes me just want to curl up on my sofa with the dog and sleep.

This week in training, well as stated above I was tired all week long. Even when I went to the box I was tired. Friday was a fun day (I felt like I was in middle school and we got to play dodge ball on Friday). We had a challenge of how fast can you row 500 meters and you have 3 tries. Of course I got my best time on the first effort (2:00 flat) but I got close on the third time with 2:03. I did not go to the gym this weekend as we had a baseball game for the boy (first one I have seen him play since he was in high school and he is now a senior). We also got rain free days on Saturday and Sunday so I wanted to spend some time with dog out in the yard. By Thursday and Friday I felt like I had more energy. Today I was tired again but I did not get to sleep until almost 11pm. Here is hoping that this week will be nicer for weather so I can start building out my vegetable garden outdoors instead of in the greenhouse. I also have a few items for the yard where I can use my newly found muscles (maybe push the stone fence back in place and maybe some clean up of the side yard).

Until next time, happy lifting…