Aha Moment(s)

This past week I've had a few "aha moments." One being last week when I finally figured out that a lot of flour + dairy = feel like shit. That moment again made me super thankful that I started eating meat again as a result of going Paleo. Last week I came to the conclusion that I was weak sauce and felt kinda bad about myself, but over the past seven days instead of pouting about it, I've used that emotion to push myself through WODs that hurt like hell and my usual Sunday morning Barry's Bootcamp ass kicking. Tonight it paid off, I was able to do three reps of my max push press and my first fully RX WOD and it felt damn good.

The theme of the past four workouts I've done have been "get that Beyonce booty" - which reminds me, was anyone else a little underwhelmed by her HBO documentary?

As for my superficial/vain aha moment of the week, after posting the picture below of me and my weave sister Hana and several people asking me if I've gone brunette, it's time for me to ditch the ombre  look and go back all blonde...I'm thinking super blonde with a couple very light pink or purple strands thrown in. We'll see, I've got three weeks until my color appointment so I might change my mind by then.

For the record, I love Hana and she is not a poop face. That sign is a result of too much vodka and my inner eight year old. Doesn't my hair look brown though? I also need a tan.

Lastly, I swear I did not plan either of these twin moments, they just happened on their own! Also the Ken doll-looking guy in the photo on the left is single. Sean, you're welcome.

Weak Sauce

Holy cow there's a lot that's gone down in the past week. Besides my usual boring routine, I've been trying to get in the groove of a new job, balance the new travel schedule that comes with the new job, get to the gym,  attempt to race (which was an epic failure, btw. I woke up Saturday morning and felt like garbage, so I bailed on the half I was supposed to run out in Lebanon. Weak sauce, I know), balance a semi-normal 27 year-old single girl social life and I'm six weeks out from closing on my condo that's being built, so I what I'm trying to say is things are a bit ridic right now, but I guess ridic in a good way.

So last night's WOD was the CrossFit total and I left after really down on myself. The CrossFit total is one round of your max back squat, strict press and deadlift. Now I know I have been super open about how weak I am and last night pretty much solidified those thoughts. While yes, all the numbers I threw up there were technically PRs, they were only PRs because it's the first time I've ever tried to max out...which is a very weird concept for me because all my life I've been an endurance athlete and trained to do the same things over and over again while pacing yourself, so this whole lift something heavy as shit once and you're good concept is bizarre to me. Anyways, I have this terrible habit of comparing myself to others and being competitive (no way, me?), so last night was an eye opener and a nice little humbling reminder that even though I can kill it at the endurance WODs, you suck at the strength ones, so stop thinking you're super awesome and start focusing on your weakness (literally) to get better. 

All that being said, amidst of all the changes and ridiculousness going on in my life right now, I am really going to try my hardest to use last night as motivation to stick to my 4-5 days a week of CrossFit and Sunday Barry's routine so hopefully next time around my CrossFit total score won't make me look as weak sauce as the first. I guess those numbers can only go up from here, right?

2013: The Year of the Relay

In years past for me it's been all about the Ironman, or running two marathons in two weeks, or some other ridiculous task that usually has me in the porta potty the morning of the event because I'm so nervous and limping for days after. This year though, it's all about the relay! Last night I received an email from one of my beloved Banditos (that's what my running group in Chicago calls themselves) about putting together a team for Ragnar Chicago. I don't know about you, but I can't think of anything more fun than spending two days in a van with my best running buds running from Madison, WI to Chicago and listening to Casey's stories like about panning for gold in Mexico back in the day. Best part about training for Ragnar is, apparently it's just like training for a half, which means I can still focus on getting stronger and not give that up because I have to run everyday of the week. 

Banditos running Northerly Island

Most of the Banditos on a freezing cold morning last February

Two months after Ragnar, I'll go back up north to relay the swim portion of Ironman Steelhead 70.3 in Benton Harbor, MI with my Nashville partner in crime, Stephanie, who will rock the bike and her friend Page who will bring it home for us on the run. I've done Steelhead twice before, once in 2007 and again in 2010, and that race is notorious for canceling the swim because of large waves, so I will be pissed if I go all the way up to Michigan my leg of the relay gets cancelled. I think I'm going to use the race as an excuse to buy a new wetsuit. I have been rocking the same entry-level Zoot wetsuit since I started doing triathlons and I had the opportunity to try out the blueseventy Helix in December down in Austin at The Running Event and it blew me away how I amazing it felt in the water while wearing it. I'm also excited to try to beat my existing 1.2 mile swim time of 30 minutes. I honestly don't get in the pool that much, but last year I did a PR in the swim at the Nash Vegas Half and I think it was all because of my strength training, so hopefully with six more months of CrossFit, I'll blow that PR out of the water.

Stephanie is probably going to not be happy that I posted this picture of us acting like idiots from the Swiftwick White Out Party/the birthday party I threw for myself last year

Speaking of CrossFit, this morning's WOD at CrossFit Cool Springs about killed me. My power cleans look like garbage 90% of the time, so I definitely need to work on those and combined with being sore from the tag team Barry's Bootcamp workout yesterday, that minute rest in between cycles was much needed.

My Awesome Friday Night

Sorry I've been MIA this week, I was in beautiful snowy (and ridiculously cold) Wisconsin for the past five days for work with not a lot of down time.

I'm writing this blog as I am stuffing my face with a post-CrossFit workout salad and Kombucha. I kind of ate like crap this week (when I say like crap, I mean not paleo), especially yesterday when I had a bagel with cream cheese, a Zone Bar and some Muscle Milk and of course my body started to rebel when I was mid-air on a packed flight from Detroit to Nashville on one of those tiny commuter airplanes. At one point when I put my head in my hands and made some groaning noise, I scared the dude sitting next to me because he asked me if I was going to puke. My response to his question was "god, I would feel so much better if I did." So today I felt inclined to make up for my crappy eating this week by going to Whole Foods and making myself a $20 salad for dinner.

My mom calls Kombucha expensive dirty foot water. Why do I drink it? Because Chrissie Wellington one day tweeted a picture of her fridge full of the stuff. If Chrissie said she ate dog poop after a workout to recover, I probably would give it a go just so I could brag that we have the same post-workout regimen

I also didn't workout while I was up in Wisconsin. I stayed at this sick Five Diamond resort that used to house the immigrant workers who worked in the town factory back in the day but they didn't have an attached gym (only I would bitch about that). I had to walk four blocks in the snow and in the -5 degree wind chill to get there, so I initially was just going to modify the workouts that James gave me for the week but after getting 5 burpees in, I realized that the person staying in the room directly below me probably thought I was demolitioning my room, so I gave up and grabbed a Diet Coke from the mini bar and sat and watched the first 30 minutes of the Today Show.

So feeling super guilty about being a fat ass all week, I am spending my Friday night at CrossFit Cool Springs, eating my Whole Foods salad, blogging and probably catching up on the amazing TV I missed this week...by amazing, I mean shows like Scandal, Shahs of Sunset and the SAG Awards Fashion Police special. I am so cool sometimes, I can hardly stand it.

Here's the WOD from tonight:

I'm a huge fan of the twenty seconds on, ten seconds off thing and rounds for time WODs. I might not be the strongest person there, but I have a lot of gas in my tank from my swimming, running and triathlon training, so usually I can bite my lip and fight through the pain.

CrossFit is like that abusive boyfriend you can't quit. You know every time you see him, you leave sore, with bruises and some times ending up in the ER, but you end up going back because you just can't get enough. That being said, I'm pumped for the Saturday AM WOD. Should be a great time. I also signed up for Barry's Bootcamp on Sunday afternoon for a special tag team class, so by Monday, I should be wrecked. Awesome.