Week 1 Wrapup

It was good, aside from the migraine!

Monday was great; I felt really good about my decision to start doing this challenge. I drank tons of water, kept my caloric intake up to par and managed to get a lot of sleep. It’s one of the things I really need to focus on now because my sleep, while deep and through the night, I wake up feeling exceptionally groggy and unhappy- it’s been like this my whole life, though, so I don’t know if there’s anything to fix, I think I just need more of it rather than the 7 hours I appear to get every night. It takes a lot of coffee and time to get up to working capacity. I have no idea how to fix this- any suggestions would be so helpful.

I made it through the week without a single cheat and I feel really good about that. I managed to hit my water goal 4 out of the 7 days. I didn’t get enough water on Friday, Saturday or Sunday and I’m definitely feeling the effects of that. My engagement ring fits pretty tight, my breath has been horrible and, the migraine was definitely not fun-I’m still feeling a tinge in my neck, so I hope that lots of water and coffee today will help. I had about 75 oz of water on Friday and not a whole heck of a lot on the weekend while I worked.

This week will be great; at least I’m going to make it great. I will be doing some grocery shopping this week for myself and mom. Tonight is knitting group- but I don’t know if I’ll go simply because I can’t make any of the food there Paleo; I would usually get a chicken curry wrap and hummus and veggies. The wheat wrap and the hummus aren’t allowed. It seems a waste of money to buy the two things and not eat a lot of it… There’s a salad there, but the goat cheese and walnuts are mixed together, making it very hard to justify eating a strawberry and lettuce salad. I can stop at Outpost and pick up some food but I feel bad about bringing outside food in just because I can’t eat anything on their menu.

Last weeks’ workouts were good. I didn’t go on Friday due to the massive migraine that gave me insomnia until 1 a.m. when I finally slept. I worked a short day on Saturday and worked all day Sunday. I got a LOT of knitting done on my wedding shawl. It feels much more real now. I came home on Sunday and printed 50 invitations, stuffed them and, after a fight with Fiance about it, I hand-addressed all 50 of the invites. And I’m 18 short. More about the knitting on the other blog.

Here’s to another great week. I’m super excited to hit some milestones.

Accountability

On the goal board at Badger Crossfit

I’m done being fat. I hate the derisive comments I make about myself and I know Fiance doesn’t like it either. I hate the way I feel when I have a cheat meal. I hate being naked. Or looking at myself in the mirror.

So today it ends.

I stepped on the scale this morning and wasn’t sad or upset- just disappointed. 253. I’ve never been so heavy.

So I’m doing a Whole 45. I’ll be doing strict paleo with a 1000 calorie deficit until August when I go in for my first wedding dress fitting. Ideally I’d like to be down 20 pounds by then, which is completely doable considering how many times I cheat meal on a weekly basis. Which is where the blog comes in.

Keep me accountable. I’ll post all my food and water intake of the day as well as my workouts. Fitbit will be helpful too; it’ll track my intake and outbound calories. I’ll get on the scale every Wednesday morning. I’ll be working out for an hour every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

115 days until I walk down the aisle. I want to be able to send my dress in for a size down and I want to be able to not feel self-conscious about my pudge on the big day. I want my wedding ring to go on easily despite likely being swollen. I don’t want to be self-conscious and hate the pictures taken on the big day. I want to love me as much as Fiance does.

Day one: Wednesday 6/17/15

Breakfast: Coffee, two hardboiled eggs, two oz of Johnsonville Summer Sausage

Lunch: Bowl of homemade chili with pork, beef, onions, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, mustard and BBQ sauce.

Dinner: Pulled pork and sweet potato fries courtesy of mom’s kitchen.

Snacks: Baby carrots, summer sausage.

Water: At about 20 oz thus far today. Want to be able to refill my nalgene twice more by the end of the day.

 

Next grocery shopping trip: Friday after crossfit. Going to pick up nuts, almond butter, seeds and craisins to make a trail mix for when I’m hungry at work.

Here we go! Wish me luck!

The Struggle

Monday afternoon:

Tonight is a WOD I’ve been dreading for a while and, when I logged onto Instagram this morning to see Coach had posted the movements, I nearly threw my phone to the other side of the room.

Brenton:
Five rounds for time of:
Bear crawl 100 feet
Standing broad-jump, 100 feet

Do three Burpees after every five broad-jumps. If you’ve got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

I did this WOD over a year ago and it broke me. I’ve never felt so defeated after a WOD than I did while performing Brenton. I broke out in hives after the WOD due to hay fever and the grass. I was a full two rounds behind everyone else. I modified it to seven broad-jumps with the burpees because of how short my stride is. I cried when I was 100 feet away from everyone else who had finished long ago.

I don’t like to admit that I’m total and utter crap at physical fitness. I like to think I’m good at some things and I know I’m good at some things. I joke about how crappy I’ll be at this WOD and how I’m always the last person to finish a WOD; this doesn’t usually bother me because I’m usually always able to finish the WOD. This was a totally different kind of workout, though.

It just…broke me. 

I felt like a failure. A total and utter failure. I was the fat kid that never got picked in class to join anyone’s team. I couldn’t manage the bear crawl, my form on the burpees was crap at best. My broad jumps were maybe three feet.  Coach came over while I stood at the other end of the field sobbing saying nonsensicals like “I don’t know why I can’t do it!” and he kept trying to tell me ‘you do this for Brenton’ and ‘You’re doing great!’ Other people came to do the burpees with me (which made me feel like even more of an invalid, though they meant well) so when I finally finished, I didn’t speak to anyone. I just found my water bottle and walked away; not wanting people to see me at my lowest point. People came up behind me in the group of us walking back to the gym and gave me praise, but tears just silently fell the entire walk back to the gym and especially in my car. Just writing about it now makes me misty.

I signed up for class tonight but I really don’t want to fail or find out that I’m not better than I was two years ago. I don’t want to go to this WOD only to end up in tears again because I can’t finish more than three rounds before it gets dark.

I’m going to do my best and know that I am a better CrossFitter than I was two years ago. My back is twitchy, but I know that I can manage this WOD just like I do all the other WODs. I will be the last person finished, but I sincerely hope to finish more than I did two years ago.

 

Monday Night:

I walked into the gym and my nerves were on overdrive. I warmed up quickly, comiserated with people and expressed my nervousness to the people around me. One girl was there the last time I did it and remembered my reaction to the WOD. She was confident I could finish though, so that helped.

We jumped into the strength portion and I did fine with the Wendler Cycle: I did back squats at a little less than I should have, and my press was minimal at best; I wasn’t worries. I just wanted to get this WOD over.

We walked to the field down the street and coach counted us down. I couldn’t find a good cadence for the bear crawls so my hips hurt more than anything else. The broad jumps were fine, but I did 7 to make up the difference of my little legs. The burpees were the easiest part, though my hands were already breaking out and my lungs were burning from the grass. I made it through the first round is pretty decent time and the second round wasn’t too bad, but the third was where I fell apart a bit; my bear crawl was crappy, I had to stop a lot. I was still able to make it through the jumps in three sets, only having to do 6 burpees total.

I wasn’t the last one on the field when I finished the third round, though people were finishing already. I started on my fourth bear crawl with a massive burning in my lungs. I wasn’t fatigued, I just couldn’t breathe well. I started on the jumps, heard Sarah tell me ‘little jumps are still jumps!’ and, halfway through the fourth round, when almost everyone else was done, I talked to coach ‘Is there a time cap?’ he shook his head. “I mean I’d say end it at 4 if you want to stop, but I won’t make you stop.” “Good,” I said. “I’m going to finish.” and I finished off the fourth round.

I wasn’t alone for the fifth round, which eased my mind a bit. I finally got the cadence for the bear crawl and finished in three good tries. I then powered through the jumps and barely made it to the end through the third set of jumps.

18:44. I had finished. I collapsed to the ground and started crying just out of happiness. I walked back to the gym and gave my time. “You did a great job out there today.” said coach.

I believed him.

I went back to my car and texted Boyfriend. I then cried a couple tears of joy and posted on Instagram.

I beat the WOD. I won.

I finished. 

Field Training Officer Timothy Quinn Brenton, 39, of the Seattle Police Department, was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting while on duty on October 31, 2009. He is survived by his wife Lisa, his son Quinn, and daughter Kayliegh.

Thank you, Brenton. Thanks to you, I understand what it is to be strong; to persevere; to overcome. Thank you.

Facebook Bugs Me

I don’t usually care about people posting ‘CrossFit Sucks’ kinds of comments and articles to their feeds– everyone is allowed their opinions.

But then a friend posted this article: “Why I Don’t Do CrossFit” and I kind of went off the rails; so here is my response to this article. It’s sad that there are those of us who think it’s needed to respond, but I really don’t appreciate a naysayer who had one bad experience ruin it for the rest of us.

Go ahead and give this guy a read. He attempts some good points. However, his thoughts don’t really carry much weight for those of us who have had a lot of success at CrossFit.

This guy obviously had a bad experience at a box and that affiliate obviously thought they were doing OK even though they were injuring their athletes. Most boxes have coaches that care about their athletes and members. If you cannot do the movement with great form, you are told to lower the weights and/or modify the movement. Too many people were getting injured by kipping their pull ups at my gym, so it was enforced that you must do strict first before learning the kip. Not once have I ever been yelled at by a coach. This guy was in the Navy– he should be used to be yelled at…but that’s a stereotypical thing to say… isn’t it?

The response of “Oly lifts shouldn’t be used in the way CrossFit uses it” isn’t really all that accurate anyway– with good form, one can rep out 30 Clean and Jerks and not feel like they’re dying the following day. Normal muscle fatigue is -wait for it- normal in the lats, the traps, the shoulders, the abs and the mid-back because those are the muscle groups you’re focusing on when doing those two movements.

I’d also like to add that Olympic Weightlifter and medalist Kendrick Farris can do Isabel (30 Snatches) with a very respectable time and he didn’t wait a ton of time before his next reps. And his form was perfect on every single one.

Repeatedly distressing your muscles is exactly what it means to be exercising, so CrossFit is perfect for that.

“Very few of them [coaches] have any real knowledge of proper form” clearly this isn’t true, because in that weekend of L1 testing, they go through WODs, they are tested individually, they learn the most minute details of a movement. I’ve been following a girl on Instagram who spent MONTHS studying for her L1.

CrossFit does not set you up for injury to begin with. People who do not do the movements properly are set up to injure themselves. People who are idiots and think they can rock out that deadlift with a rounded back and poor form are setting themselves up for injury.

He sums CrossFitters up to being part of a herd mentality with no more motivation than belonging to a gym to feel like they’re part of an elitist group who think it’s OK to be injured while working out.

So now here’s my rebuttal: In 2 years of CrossFit and eating Paleo, I dropped 50 pounds, gained about 15 pounds of muscle, lost at least 20% body fat, have lost two pant sizes, three dress sizes, and at one point was down 2-3 shirt sizes (broad shoulders brought me back up a size!). I have only been injured due to 2 early discs, both pre-existing from 8 years prior from improperly lifting a massive box of books, which herniated after a deadlift (a movement I rarely do because of the risk), and tripping over my own two feet jogging to the rower and spraining my ankle. My knees click which is nothing to be worried about and squatting makes them feel better.

I sleep like a fricking baby at night and I have never felt so good about GOING to the gym than I do when I go to Badger CrossFit. I have tried doing the whole ‘globo gym’ thing and it was awful. I didn’t last a month.

Finally, he blockquotes a simple sentence from “Science of Running” stating, “We get stale, we stop improving our our body breaks down.”

I’ve been consistently going to BCF for two years, three-to-four times a week. When I first started, my Power clean was 60 pounds. My snatch was 35 pounds. My deadlift was 125. I had no double unders for over a year and my mile row was almost 8 minutes.

As of April, I can hang-power-clean 125 pounds. I can snatch 80 pounds. I almost have a bodyweight deadlift. I can string 32 double unders together and I have a 4:30 mile row.

The coaches are phenomenal. All are so supportive and know so much about CrossFit and kinesiology and the best way to get the most out of every workout.

I’ve been to gyms where it’s a meathead mentality and I obviously didn’t go again. I got lucky when I showed up at BCF for my first intro class. Boyfriend has been to another gym, more local to me, where they cared more about working you to puking than getting a value out of the WOD. I can proudly say that the only time I puked after a WOD was when I had stomach flu.

He closes with a question: “Do you want a broken body?…[Or] do you want to train smart?”

Yes. That’s why I CrossFit. My body was broken two years ago. Now it’s not. Now my thighs are strong, my form is great, my lungs and heart are healthier than ever and I am eating clean, training dirty- just as it should be.

 

Not Enough Coffee

Oh hi! Welcome back! I’d love to say I’ve been crazy busy but really, I’ve just be working so much that I don’t have time to think about writing for myself; especially when I write all day every day at work.

So I’m back. I promise. I’m also finally back into the groove of working out regularly after all the medical drama is over and all my stress and family obligations are also over.

I am working every day this month except for one day. Literally. I have one day off in January and it’s this Saturday. It’s coming at the perfect time because I’m exhausted and stressed and generally punchy and unable to find enough coffee to drink during the day.

Here’s a little bit of randomness to bring you up to speed on my last few months of quiet-time.

I’ve been making time to get to CrossFit but it’s about that time that everyone signs up for class so I get on the waitlist, resign myself to not working out and then, an hour before class I get the email saying I got in, only for me to realize that I haven’t had any water that day and I’m exhausted and oh I just got this shitload of work to do.

I made some CrossFit goals this year:

Bodyweight Deadlift (only 20 pounds short)
125# Clean and Jerk (I’m at 100 so far)
125# Back and front squat (115 and 95 each currently)
100# Push press (I think I’m currently at 80)

20 pounds lost from my body. I’ve gained 10 this year after losing the 50, which I know is normal, but I want it gone again. 170 is my final goal.

Last week was Benchmark week and, while I was feeling a bit under the weather and work was crazy, so I didn’t make it in until Wednesday for DT and Back Squat 1RM.

My all-time PR, from when I was still 234 pounds, was 115 pounds. When I lost 40 of the 50 pounds, six months later, I went down to 105 pounds. This past Wednesday, I finally went back up to 130. One goal down!

I also PRed DT by 3 minutes. Three months ago I put 65 pounds on the bar and finished in 15 minutes flat. I kept the 65 pounds and finished in 11:40. I was exceptionally happy even if my hands were in so much pain. The grip dies after about round two. I was still really happy.

I stayed out of the box on Thursday for church and sleep and went back on Friday for Deadlift 1RM and FRAN.

 

The Deadlift was great! My ultimate goal is to get bodyweight but 170 seemed really hard. When I finally made it up to 180, my form fell apart but I got the weight up without rounding my back. In 3 months, when we do it again, I really want to make it up to 190, meaning I’ll have more than a bodyweight deadlift if we go with my most recent low-weight, though I’ve gained some of the 50 pounds back.

I really strongly dislike Fran and not because she’s tough, but because I suck at both of the movements. I am not getting better with my pull ups and my thrusters are really low because we almost never do them. I was also dehydrated and tired and sore from doing the Deadlifts so, while my time three months ago with 45 pounds was 7:02, I finished in a piddly 9:48 and was not happy with myself. What a disaster.

Now, On the Paleo Front:

I fell apart during the holiday and didn’t really limit myself to eating what I wanted because it would simply be too hard and I was cooking most of the foods anyway so it was a bit of 100% paleo 80% of the time. But, by the first, I was ready to get back on the wagon and I did hardcore.

But. I soon realized how sensitive my body has become since I went Paleo. I was having dinner with my best friend on Friday at Chilis and had a Santa Fe Chicken Salad with a picante ranch dressing that usually is fine with me, but for some reason, an hour after finishing eating, I was in the bathroom with some awesome lactose reaction-ing. At least I felt skinny when going back to the table? So I’ve officially decided not to eat at Chilis anymore. Which makes me sad because I love their foods, but I just can’t make it happen anymore, I guess.

I’ve still been doing really well, though I may be dealing with some carb flu, which has always had a bit of a latent reaction for me. I’ve been ornery and have a headache every morning and wahh. I’m drinking coffee and taking tylenol and generally hiding away in a dark office and dark apartment and dark. Just lots of dark.

I have officially come to realize how much my body has changed. You ready?

Here’s me in August of 2012 doing 35 pound squat cleans. Ahem. Power cleans and front squats.

Annnnnnnnnd…….

Here’s me, at 175 Deadlift, on Friday January 10, 2014.

It’s amazing how much the body can change in a year and a half. I am so proud of myself.

Weight at the beginning of the year: 196 lbs. Goal by the end of the year? 170 pounds. 26 pounds to go!

DNF is better than DNS

I’m really frustrated with the jump rope.

Not just in a way of ‘ugh I’m so frustrated I don’t have Double Unders’ but more like “F@#$ WHY DO I SUCK SO F&#@(*% HARD AT DOUBLE UNDERS! I USED TO BE SO GOOD AT THIS!”

Basically I totally DNFed at the WOD on Wednesday because I got so pissed off with my lack of prowess with double unders that I literally threw the damn rope on the ground halfway through the round.

Here’s how it went:

3 rounds
50 Double Unders
21 lateral burpees (Over the bar)
7 Power Snatches

I seriously thought the Burpees would be the worst of it all.

First round: 25 double unders strung together. It was a PR. I was stoked. I got another round of 10 and another of 5 and made it through the first round of DUs no problem. The burpees took forever so other people have gotten to the second set of burpees by the time I was onto the snatches, which I did at a super low weight.

Round two: 2s and 3s on the double unders. Halfway through I made it up to 5, had to seriously do tuck jumps in order to get the rope around my body twice. I huffed a few times and finally finished while people were onto their third round. During the burpess people were finishing.

Round three: I made it through a set of 5, a set of 3 and could barely make it through ones and twos. By the time I made it to 20ish reps, I said “F$@* IT,” threw the rope on the ground and made it through the burpees faster than I’ve ever done burpees before in my life. I made it through 15, realized I had lost count but coach said “6 more!” and I made it through, repped the snatches like they were nothing (because they were nothing) and I was so pissed off with myself when I hit the floor.

It’s been two days and I’m still really upset about that. It’s been over a year since I started CrossFit and I’ve only ever DNFed when my back had two herniated disks blown so it hurt too much to move. DNFing sucks. It hurts. It bruises the ego and, even though people tell you you’ve done a great job, when deep in your soul, you know you could have done better.

Basically, DNF sucks hard.

But then I posted it on Facebook and Coach responded “Better to DNF than DNS; Did Not Start. Keep on keepin’ on.

And, even though I still felt crappy about that DNF, he has a point. I got into the box. I PRed my 3-position clean. I kept going even though I stopped with the DUs. I got a good sweat on. I showed up and I technically finished. It’s better than nothing.

Well, Well, Well

Looks like it’s about time to start talking Crossfit and Paleo again.

This weekend we will be cheating like mofos.

It’s been about a month since I did that.

There’s a hamburger stand down the street from Boyfriend and their last days of the season are this weekend, so we will happily go to the stand and wait in the cold for a greasy bacon burger, onion rings, french fries and maybe a scoop or two of homemade ice cream without all the preservatives that will potentially make me sick.

This is perfect timing, since we’re going to be doing a terrible chipper WOD Tonight.

“Why Not Be Chipper”
15 Power Cleans (145/100#)
20 T2B
25 Wall Balls
15 Power Cleans (145/100#)
20 Ring Dip
25 Pullups
15 Power Cleans (145/100)
20 HR Pushups
25 2-fer lateral hops
15 Power Cleans (145/100)
20 Med-ball Situps
25 KB Swings

Ouch. Right? I’m already hurting quite a bit still from Wednesday when I tried and fruitlessly managed to get three inches off the ground on the rope. Somehow my ability to get half way up the rope died over the last couple weeks. Let’s blame the ugly socks I was wearing. Truly. They were ugly. Ready?

The medicine ball is about 10 feet up…

See, now here’s the thing. I really actually love this picture. Because LOOK AT ME!!! Wanna know what I mean by that?

During G.I. Jane last year. Only made it to 75 and did ring rows. I wish we would do this one again so I could do the pull ups!

That picture was from a little more than a year ago (August 10, to be exact) when I was a size 8.5 shoe, an XXL capri pant and a large men’s shirt. Today I’m a size 8 shoe, size L shorts (the orange ones above are XL, but I had them when I was fat and now they fit amazingly) and a size medium mens shirt. When the second picture was taken, I couldn’t even fit into the ‘women’s’ clothes. Now. Now I’m a size Medium. 

I can do proper push ups (though, for timing sake, I still modify), can string together more than 15 wallballs at 10 pounds (getting smacked in the face with a 14 pound ball really isn’t my favorite thing, so I wuss out), I can actually do a 20″ box jump (though, after the plyo box won a couple weeks ago and for timing sake, I still do step ups) and I can do pull ups, even though they’re assisted; when I first started, I could only do ring rows.

Once I get home and have some dinner, I’ll be knitting the final rows of a sweater button band and baking some pumpkin bread.

Now, if only Reebok and CrossFit would make knee-socks that fit women with awesome calves.

A Cautionary Tale

This is what happens when double unders die in the middle of a WOD

and the Thrusters, even at 35 pounds, are done really quickly.

Tonight is Fight Gone Bad. I haven’t done it in months. The last time I did, I broke an ankle.

In Which We Rip

 

So I ripped. I let the yarn sit for a couple weeks before deciding to pick it up and knit mittens. I wanted to redo the Games Knit A Long because I figured why let the experience go to waste.

6 hours later, I had a mitten finished. the next morning, the second mitten was done.

I sat there looking at the pair of mittens I had finished and swore to myself, wondering what else I was supposed to do for the next four and a half days. I figured I had more time so why not knit more mittens?  Thus begins the challenge.

AMMAP: As Many Mittens As Possible. 

Time Cap: 6 days. Sunday PM to Saturday PM. 

Size 5 needles. Worsted weight yarn. 

Post WOD Cooldown will be weaving in all ends and sewing on the suede patches I plan on attaching and finally, to upload to Etsy. 

My plan with this, because I have no need for 85 pairs (OK so maybe that’s a bit much) of mittens in my life, is to sell these mittens on Etsy, at work and on Facebook, for profit for myself as well as to donate 50% of the proceeds to DryHootch, a non-profit org for post-war veterans and family members. We donate change and such to them at Badger CrossFit whenever we use the water, so I figured, since I don’t think I’ll be sending the hats to Afghanistan like I did a couple years ago, that I’d sell them and donate the proceeds to a military-organization so I can help soldiers in some way or another.

I hurt my hand last week during the 1RM Clean and Jerk so there’s still a bruise and soreness on my hand below my pinky finger and I’m stuck at work for a good portion of my night before going home to finish the second pair, so I’m unable to attend the WOD tonight (aw shucks. No front squats for Amanda) but there will be WODding tomorrow.

Hope your labor day was great. Mine was spent lobbing arrows at baddies, and then almost dying after getting blasted by some Dark Speech from some beyotch Kobald. Rangers are meant to be in trees with their arrows, not in the middle of a circular room with nowhere to hide. Yes. I played Dungeons & Dragons

 

A Herd of Turtles

I can’t believe it’s been a month since I left for the Games. It feels like it was only a couple weeks ago that we were on the plane coming home with a bunch of the Rogue equipment guys and 2010 champ, GRAHAM HOLMBERG. Boyfriend saw him, I didn’t. Though we did our best to stalk him.

I wish I could say that I’ve been wodding a lot, but ever since I got back from California and even before then, I’ve had way too many things go wrong that have prevented me from entering the box.

July 19: I hurt my back moving apartments. It took three weeks for my back to stop being so angry. RockSauce, RockTape, regular ice and chiropractor visits and rest made me go stir crazy but my back got better, so I was OK with it.

August 19: I got a cyst on my left ovary while rowing a 5K. This definitely was a monkey wrench thrown into the mix. I felt pain during the Monday WOD that week but thought it was general female issues until Friday night when my toes were curling in pain and we were headed to the ER. A prescription for Percocet later and we were on our way. I was tender for a good week. The cyst is also messing with my weight. I’m way heavier than I have been in months and I have to assume it’s because of the cyst. I just want it to go away and stop messing with my body.

Now that I’m feeling better, it’s time to get back to my regularly schedule WOD life. Monday was a doozy for one who hasn’t wodded regularly in weeks. It was also about 95 degrees outside, 110 in the box (I swear that thermostat is broken. It always says its 90 degrees in the box. NOT TRUE).

Anyway: Monday.

4 rounds:
15 wall balls

10 Burpees
15 tuck jumps

3 rounds:
150 m run
10 hang power snatch

2 rounds:
10 Power Cleans
10 hand-release push ups

1 round:
60 wall jumps (vertical jump)
60 mountain climbers (2 for 1)

Dying. Just dying.

The burpees were so hard and the snatches killed my already aching shoulders and forearms. I pussed out on the wall balls (6 pounds) and only did 45 pounds for the snatches and cleans (my clean is 95 pounds. I muscled those suckers up). The mountain climbers are so awkward for me. I jiggled a lot. I knew there would be a lot of hardship during this WOD so I did everything I could to make it a little more bearable. I was still dripping in sweat when I finished.

I ran during that WOD. I figured 150m was the best time to do it because it would be short and couldn’t possibly aggravate my achilles enough. I took it extremely slow, to the point where I could actually breathe and carry on a joking conversation with the coach while I ran back in. He was proud, to say the least.

The rest of the classes had a 25 minute time cap. I was in the 6:30 class so we didn’t have a cap and I couldn’t (read: Wouldn’t) not finish and/or stop at 25 minutes. Robb told me to do so but I told him ‘that’s not how I operate’ and he continued to cheer me on through the whole thing. 25 minutes came and went and I was working on the snatches. I finished in 36:46 and collapsed on the mat for an unknown amount of time. I couldn’t properly grip things.

I know you’re supposed to leave your ego at the door but I don’t feel like I’ve done enough unless I actually finish the workout. I can’t DNF. It’s simply not in my nature to not finish.

I stood up when Robb was kicking us out at the end of the night and he gave me a congratulatory hug because he knew I hadn’t wodded in two weeks and I haven’t run in 7 months.

My favorite part of the night was exclaiming to boyfriend that I had run. He had proud.

I then drove to pick n save and picked up a rack of already-cooked ribs, some potato salad and some fresh fruit. I ate dinner at 9 and it was amazing, if not paleo.

I woke up the next morning feeling pretty good but DOMS hit pretty quickly by the afternoon. It hurt to sit, to fully extend my arms and to bend at the waist. It even hurt to walk and laugh.

Sweet potatoes were my savior this week. I had some fries last night as a snack because I’d had dinner at 5 and it was this teeny tiny little salad with nothing on it so I was famished. I’m feeling better, though I didn’t think I’d be able to make it through Wednesday. Better start slowly, in my opinion. I’ll be at Friday night, though!

Next post is going to be recipe-rich, I think. I make chili every week and I’m going to be making some awesome cookies on Labor day. I hope you all have a great and long weekend. I’ll be knitting, baking and enjoying every second of my day off! There will likely be a WOD in there, too.