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Hey there! I'm Holly. A 40+ year old insurance-nerd wife, mom, beauty lover, and about a million other things in between. This is the place where I share about our lives, what I'm currently loving, books I'm reading, plus-size style, beauty recommendations, health + fitness endeavors and anything else I'm finding interesting at the moment. Thanks for stopping by!Instagram
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All The Articulate Ladies!
This has been a week of good reads on the internet for me, and it’s only Tuesday. Sweet! Don’t you love when that happens? I thought I’d share some of the things that were speaking to me.
The first was an article by Jennifer Weiner on The Pressure to Look Good.
This is one of those coincidental articles where days before I had trying to articulate my thoughts on this exact issue when talking to Garrett but couldn’t find the right examples. It all started when I was getting ready to go Scottsdale with my cousin for her Bachelorette party. The entire week leading up to it I told him he was on his own for cooking dinner.
One night I was heading to the nail salon because I was needing rhinestone glue for nails to do my manicure and a pedicure. The next night I was returning the bathing suit cover up I had purchased because I had found one that was more flattering and squeezing in a quick brow wax. The night before I left I was having a lovely stranger come over while I stripped naked in my living room to give me a spray tan. (That one really freaking him out LOL) And he just kept saying “Dude, this relaxing ladies vacation sure seems like it’s a lot of freaking work!”
Then there was Spanx-gate. For reasons too long and humorous to explain, Garrett has only recently realized how prevalent Spanx are among all women and bless his heart he just can not comprehend why anyone would try and squeeze ten pounds of sausage into a two pound casing. (My words, not his.)
“Because foundation garments are game changers” I told him, “Duh.” But he still couldn’t wrap his mind around why someone would do something so uncomfortable.
Then one night we’re sitting on the couch watching Real Housewives of Orange County together (as you do) and there’s this scene where Shannon is in the bathroom discussing how she is wearing 8 pairs of Spanx so it’s going to take her a minute. Garrett again just can’t believe it and he basically says something to the effect of, “Wait a minute — she is only two pounds of sausage to begin with? Why would she be wearing 8 types of Spanx?” So I tried to explain why I understand that she would take all precautions, being on a reality show and all of that. And yet, he was still confused.
This article did a great job of articulating what I had been reaching for.
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Second was Rashida Jones and her Guide to Happiness at Work
The entire article was funny and true and I could relate on may levels. But the nugget that spoke to me the most was this “Happiness is not the endgame.”
Sometimes someone will say something to me and the perspective it gives just zaps me light a bolt of lightning and this was one of those things. (The last one I can remember was when someone said to me “Balance is a moving target.” I can’t remember who that was, but man — I LOVE THAT.)
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Last was my pal Melissa Joulwan who recently linked to a 2009 post she had written that sung to me like a personal anthem. It was all about the power struggle that sometimes happens between being fun vs. being happy.
This gets back to that brilliance about balance being a moving target, but after weeks of fun! things! on our calendar — I have never been so damn happy to eat grilled chicken and vegetables and to be working out twice a day.
You can call me crazy, but I just call me BLISSFULLY BLISSFULLY happy. Mel articulated exactly how I’ve been feel about this delicious phase that I am in right now.
“…this state of being is not forever. It’s just for a while, so I can re-charge my batteries and emerge feeling strong and happy.
You like me more that way, don’t you? I know I sure like me more that way.”
A hearty YES to that, my friends! A hearty, hearty yes!
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Have you come across any super good reads on the internet this week? Please share!
The Mojo Search Is Off + My Grilling Favorites + Weight Loss “Journeys”
Is it weird that this hand-me-down grill from my mom has brought my kitchen mojo back in a major way? I’m not exaggerating when I say we are using it at least 5 nights a week. NUTS. I wasn’t joking when I said that grill is my happy place!
Some of my favorite things to grill lately:
*Trader Joe’s Uncured All Beef Hot Dogs – Holy Crap you guys, these are the best hot dogs ever, hands down, end of story.
Speaking of Trader Joe’s – have you hopped on the frozen cauli rice craze yet? Our TJ’s has been sold out of it for weeks, and last night when I stopped in for some other groceries I spied the (tiny) bags in the freezer section and snatched up a few. I’m excited to see if it’s #worththehype
*Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip — OMG, tri tip in the oven is good, but tri-tip on the grill is WHERE IT’S AT! That rub recipe is just a great, classic seasoning to have on hand. It’s good on anything you want to grill.
*Grilled Salad – If you haven’t ever grilled your salad, it’s just one of those things you’ve got to try. It’s so fun, and tasty!
Anyway, that’s what we’ve been grubbing on. I am not unhappy about it. It’s amazing how easy it is to just enjoy meat + veg in the summer time. The abundance of produce, the smell of the grill — I’ve been looking forward to cooking dinner just about every night.
And not to jinx it, but I may have gotten a little workout mojo back. I’ve worked out 5+ times in the last 3 weeks, and am on track to do the same this week. My sanity stays in tact so much more regularly when I am up and working out every morning.
I don’t know if it is the time of day, or if it is just the regularity of a consistent routine, but the other day Garrett told me that all this exercise has made me visibly mellowed. Ha! I think sometimes when I’m not in a good workout routine I start to act like a caged animal. (Don’t you wish you lived with me? heh 😛 I’m really selling it here.)
I know it’s kind of weird to call fitness a hobby, but man — I just really enjoy spending time getting stronger, and healthier. Call me crazy, but the pursuit of those things actually makes me happier. I need to start treating my fitness like I treat my career.
Tangentially related (and still a little stuck in my craw) – I thought this article called “Let’s Stop Calling Weight Loss A Journey” was really thought provoking. Especially this part:
Still, I swore I’d never “let myself” get fat again. Like many people in our culture, I’d always regarded people who gained back the weight they’d lost as failures. After all, people who successfully lose weight are supposed to have made “permanent lifestyle changes” — which is a weight loss cliché, because it’s what we all claim we’re making when we embark on a diet. It’s what we all really believe we’re making, however to really make it, we recommend the most effective weight loss pills on the market. I love using gluconite to sleep better, I recommend yo try it, I also recommend you to try the nutrisystem program for weight loss.
In reality, new exercise habits and subtle palate changes developed during a course of deliberate weight loss might last a lifetime (hooray!), but few among us can continue eating a highly restrictive diet — whether said restriction is focused on calories, carbs, fat, or whatever else is fashionable at the moment — for the rest of our natural lives. To get more tips from experts about loosing weight, check here.
After a couple of years, I started realizing I might not have as much choice in the matter as I imagined. The pounds started coming back, not because I sat on the couch eating cheeseburgers all day, but because I’d allowed myself to focus on things like my career and relationships instead of obsessing about my body all the time. I blamed myself for the regain, but I also didn’t seem to have the power to stop it.
Anyway, this topic is so interesting to me as someone who has lost weight and gained a lot of it back. I haven’t processed all my thoughts on the topic, or on this article, but I did find myself nodding through quite a bit of it and it has definitely struck a chord.
I’m just going to leave that link right here if you’re interested.
Don’t Call It A Comeback, I’ve Been Here For Years
My first CrossFit workout was on October 9, 2010. The funny thing is I didn’t actually start writing about it here until December of that year. In fact, at one point I even professed this would not become a “CrossFit Blog.”
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah, sorry about that guys. 🙂
The point of all of that is to say, holy crap that is almost FIVE YEARS. That is the longest I have ever committed to any type fitness routine.
I have learned a lot about myself through CrossFit in these last five years. The most memorable: “skinny” is just a descriptor – not a goal state, fitness can TOTALLY be fun, and finally that yes — often times running is, in fact for recovery.
But, can I confess something to you? There is still occasionally a little nagging voice in the back of my head that says, five years into CrossFit you should look more like this:
I mostly have that thought while doing burpees, btw. And for the record, she only started CrossFit in 2009 so is it THAT unrealistic?
Ok, ok — so MAYBE it is not realistic to want to look like a 26 year old, full time, sponsored athlete. 🙂 I get it. But I would be lying if I said there weren’t times where I feel embarrassed to have been doing this for so long and still be a middle-aged lady who has a good 80 lbs to lose. With the surge in popularity of CrossFit in the last few years I almost cringe anytime someone says “Oh Holly is a CrossFitter.” I feel like I’m a walking anti-poster child.
So some contributing facts: I worked out 4-6 days a week for the first 3 years I trained at the gym. I got phenomenal results.
Then I really began reducing the amount of training I did in February of 2013 when I got a new position at work. I guess in hindsight I literally sold my fitness level for a raise. Of course it was more complicated than that, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat if offered the same type of opportunity, but obviously when you make a serious amendment in input, the output also changes. And that has left me in a little bit of a weird fitness space.
End of 2010: starts CrossFit
2011-12: Busts ass in the gym working out 4-6 days per week. Ran my first 5k. Ran my first half marathon. Lost 100 lbs. You know, no big deal.
Mid 2012: Really hit my CrossFit Peak!
It’s blurry, but one doesn’t need a clear photo to see the lack of a mid-section spare tire. These days I can hardly remember how that feels 🙂
Most of 2013: The Lost Year and yet I still managed to run 20 miles of a relay race while living out of a van with 7 other people.
2014: Lots of time trying to get my fitness routine right. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I failed.
But the question I keep asking myself is what will 2015 hold? And that is the question I still haven’t answered with one quarter down. Let’s not even get into that stress that is adding a September wedding to the mix. I think I’m supposed to be OBSESSED with working out, right? Which makes my fitness struggle feel even more confusing.
Is this the year I will recommit myself to CrossFit? Is this the year I find something else completely? Have I run my course with CrossFit? There are SO MANY variables and I don’t have any of them worked out, frankly. At this point I am taking it on a week by week basis but I can tell you my instinct is to mount a CrossFit comeback.
I have to be honest though you guys: COMEBACKS ARE HARD.
But I am very invested in my own fitness. I’m also invested in my sanity. And strangely enough, the two are very intertwined. I have no idea how this story is going to end, but I definitely feel like there is hope that the little ass kicker within me ain’t down for the count.
*****
Psssst: CrossFit Advice For Newbies
CrossFit! Trashy Celebrity Talk!
Tonight at the gym the workout was “The Filthy Fifty” and I swear to you, I don’t care how many times you do that workout IT NEVER GETS ANY EASIER. Couldn’t agree with this assessment more. I’ve probably done this workout 10 times since I started CrossFitting (I almost just wrote “in my CrossFit career — what? What would that even mean?) and it is just Hard. As. F*ck. each time. The only thing that got my through was that I had told myself if I dragged my ass to the gym and did this, we could pick up takeout for dinner and I could go home and finish reading my new trashy magazine!
Celebrity Bribery, FTW!
I finished the cover story about Katie Holmes and I’ve decided that whatever reporter interviewed her must be kind of pissed at her because the article made her sound a little bit dippy and uninteresting and WHAT IS UP WITH THAT COVER PHOTO? She looks like she’s been hanging out with Wiz Khalifa.
In unrelated celebritrash news, after a short binge to catch-up on last season, I’ve gotten sucked in to watching Tori Spelling’s newest train wreck reality series True Tori. ENOUGH WITH THE TORI PUNS, SPELLING. WE GET IT! Anyway, I don’t want to be watching it but frankly I can’t look away. It is so awful and every time I am watching it and Garrett is in the other room he will periodically come out and just shake his head and say “Why are they doing this show?” The awkwardness level is off the charts. And yet.
Related to all of the above: Swistle’s post about Celebrity Women and Whether They’d Steal Other Women’s Guys made me chuckle today. I think I’m on board with all of her delineation except for Kate Hudson. What say you?
Twelve Weeks // 235
We are 4 weeks in to some new squat programming at my gym and frankly it is killing my will to walk.
It’s called the Hatch Squat Program and it’s a 12 week cycle that basically includes 2 days a week of A WHOLE LOT OF HEAVY SQUATTING with bonus spreadsheets! I’m serious about the spreadsheet, you can find it here if you endeavor to do this on your own, you crazy squatting beast!
A month in, I think it just might be working mostly because my legs feel mostly immobile about 4 days per week. I have to pep talk myself at least once a day to take the stairs at work. It must be because my legs are getting stronger, right? TELL ME THEY ARE GETTING STRONGER. It’s the kind of workout programming that makes you ask yourself the following day “Do I really need to go to bathroom right this second, or can it wait?” because sitting down is requires reinforcement.
One of the other things kind of blowing my mind is that one of our coaches was somewhat pregnant when we started this cycle, but when we are done with Hatch she very well might no longer be pregnant and will have a real, live baby. A new squat PR? A human baby that you’ve grown with YOUR OWN BODY? So much can be accomplished in just 12 weeks.
Measuring progress is one of my favorite things and for some reason I always find it more enjoyable to work toward something new that has a finite end up ahead. I think that is why I enjoy AMRAP workouts in CrossFit so much more than Rounds For Time workouts. Sure things are going to be hard and get ugly, but when I know it’s only going to be ugly for 10 minutes, or 12 weeks, or just until “Race Day” I somehow tap into this fount of available energy that otherwise seems unreachable. I should probably chew on that a little bit more before figuring out what I want to accomplish next. Bite size pieces, for the win.
Anyway, when we started Hatch my Squat 1 Rep Max was 235. I’ll let you know where it is in 8 weeks. Any of you ever survived a 12 week Hatch cycle? Talk to me…and my jello legs. 🙂
The Week In Workouts
Another Monday here and another week to get in some good workouts. I need a clean slate after last week’s ups and downs with respect to gym time. To obtain better results you cn combine the workout with natural testosterone boosters.
Here’s how it shook out:
Monday
LIFT
Snatch: Spend 15 minutes working up to a heavy 1 rm – I worked up to 110 lbs and it’s like I have a mental breakdown afterward. It’s all in my head that I can’t catch 115 and beyond, so I’m going to work on that, dang it!
Then: 3 x 3 of Overhead Squats @ 50% of that weight with a 3 second pause at the bottom
METCON
For Time…
15 Snatch* (Rx’d was 95lbs. I scaled to 75lbs)
30 push-ups
400m run
10 Snatch
20 push-ups
400m run
5 Snatch
10 push-ups
Despite the fact that I don’t love running, I really loved this workout! It was challenging in all the best ways.
Tuesday
LIFT
Clean & Jerk
Take 15 min and build to a heavy 1RM, then
3×3 Front Squat @ 50% of C&J w/3 second pause at the bottom of each rep
I ended up with a 1 RM of 155lbs on my clean and jerk, which I think is a new PR. It felt dang heavy, so I’ll take it. I’m also having a love affair with front squats lately. Maybe this sounds weird, but they are seriously THE BEST ab exercise. Heavier front squats always make me feel like I did a billion situps the next day.
3 Rounds For Time:
20 T2B (scaled)
30 KB Swings (53 lbs)
40 Double Unders
I broke in my new jump rope on this workout (I know, it’s obnoxious) and enjoyed myself.
Wednesday
Rest!
Thursday
Still Resting! Actually, I had planned to go to the gym this evening but Garrett ended up getting some good news at work and I was feeling celebratory, so we stayed home and cooked steaks and drank cider on the patio.
Friday
Ok, now I was just being lazy. This is what happens to me when I take a couple days off in a row. Someone asked me last week how many days I’d like to be crossfitting, and the answer to that varies. But mostly I can say this: I like to be active 6 days a week with 1 day of just complete rest. In my ideal world I’d CrossFit 4-5 days per week, do yoga 1-2 days per week (a mix of bikram, vinyasa or yin — depending on what is calling to me), and then do something active and outside 1 day on the weekend like take my dog for a longer walk or run or something. So that is my overall goal. It keeps me feeling alive, happy, energized and engaged. When I skip a few too many workouts I start to feel lethargic and then sort of fall headfirst into a bag of sweet potato chips on the couch — which is sort of what happened this weekend.
OBVIOUSLY I did not make that workout goal this week. 🙂
Saturday
Over the weekend I did this workout with a 53lb kettlebell because that is the only size we have at homoe (OOF!) and it was super quick and fun. Neghar’s You Tube Channel is awesome.
Garrett actually went to open gym (I couldn’t drag myself because I was SO DANG TIRED from the week, and he re-did Workout 14.4. Crazy person! He got 16 more reps though so he was pretty proud of himself. )
Sunday
On Sunday the beasty got a nice long walk, and then I ate a lot of sweet potato chips on the couch. We were both pretty thrilled.
And that’s how this week shaped up! Any PRs or awesome workouts for you?
The Week In Workouts
Happy Monday! It’s Monday all darn day, isn’t it? HUMPH. I started my Monday off with an early morning workout, so I’m feeling like this week will be manageable, but before we get into that, let’s talk about last week’s workouts.
Monday
LIFT
Deadlift:
Spend 15 minutes working up to a heavy 5 rm
I worked up to about 205 and then called it a day. I find that I don’t lift as heavy in the mornings as I do in the afternoons, but generally perform better with metcons. Weird. Anyway.
METCON
21-15-9*
Power Clean
Strict Pull-Up
*Complete 35 double-unders before each round
The Rx’d weight was 105, but I scaled and did 95lbs. And thank god, because that ended up being HARD. My grips strength sucks, so after dead lifts and then doing pullups (which I scaled too!) my grip strenth struggled with 95lb cleans. This was one was harder than I thought it would be.
Tuesday
I had an early am teleconference so I couldn’t get in at 5am. And then honestly after a long day when it was still 80 degrees at 5pm, I just didn’t feel like doing the workout. 🙂 The weather is ready for tank tops but my arms are NOT. I’m going to have to wrap my brain around tank tops no matter what here shortly because it’s getting too warm to workout in sleeves.
Wednesday
Lift
Hang Clean 3-3-3
Power Clean 3-3-3
Squat Clean 3-3-3
I started these sets around 75lbs and worked my way up to 135lbs.
Metcon
7 min AMRAP
Row for Cal
Box Jumps (24/20)
(3, 3, 6, 6, 9, 9, 12, 12…)
Buy Out:
10 wall walks
OOF!
Thursday
Thursday was pretty much the same story as Tuesday. I had a pretty intense week at work this week, and on week’s like that if I’m not hitting 5 or 6am, I’m not working out. By the time I get to the end of the day I’m just mentally worked!
Friday
LIFT
Floor Press:
Work toward a 3RM
Once found, 3 x 3 @ 60-65% of your 3RM weight
I had never done floor presses before. Super different! I think I worked up to 115lbs.
METCON
“The Chief”
Max rounds in 3 minutes:
3 power clean (95lbs)
6 push ups
9 squats
rest 1 minute (Our coach says “The “Rest” portion just means breathe really hard for 60 seconds” And that about summed it up.)
Repeat 4 more times for 5 total cycles.
This was AWESOME/AWFUL! I loved this workout and it sucked supremely all at the same time. You know how that is, right? Like it was awful but I can’t wait to do it again. I dunno. I’m crazy. Whenever I see air squats in a workout I feel like “Oh, this should be nice” but then when the workout is done and you realize you just did EIGHTEEN ROUNDS of those air squats, all of a sudden it’s like “Oh shit, that’s gonna hurt tomorrow.”
And it did. 🙂
Saturday
Saturday I did a bazillion errands, took Buster to get his weekly B12 shot and then took him for a long walk. That was about it on the workout frong.
Sunday
I did bicep curls with my mimosa glass. 🙂 hehe
We had Easter brunch with my whole family and I spent the day catching up with people instead of working out. It was nice.
*****
What about you? Any PRs, or crazy fun workouts? Do tell….
The Week In Workouts
I had a pretty good run of posting workouts for a while and loved how they made me accountable! I think people are often looking for the next great workout craze to get them into tip top shape. While I love trying new things, I’ve also found that when I personally am at my fittest it isn’t necessarily WHAT I’m doing but HOW I’m doing it: With Some Consistency. I’ve spent the last 5 weeks laying a really good foundation of consistent workouts. I’m hoping that starting to share them again will help me keep it up!
Also I love to hear what you guys are doing. Had a completely awesome workout that was enjoyable or where you really kicked ass? Tell me about it. It gives me good ideas for open gym days, home workouts, or just when I’m trying to spice up my fitness life! Share the wealth. 🙂
*****
Monday
Garrett and I have been regularly doing 5 am workouts on Monday/Tuesday/Thursdays and we are loving it. (Well, uh, not the part where the alarm goes off at 4am, but the part where our evenings are completely free and we don’t have to drag our butts to the gym after long days at work.) But this Monday was the day we had to take Buster into the emergency vet so we actually didn’t workout at all.
(Update on Buster: He’s medicated and seems to be doing better symptoms-wise, although we are still waiting for some test results to get to the root of his digestive problems.)
Tuesday
We played a little catch up on Tuesday morning at 5am and did the lifting from Monday’s workout.
Front Squat:
10 @ 50% of 1 rm (I didn’t have my last 1RM written down [Bad CrossFitter!] so I just used 140lbs)
8 @ 60%
6 @ 70%
max reps @ 80%
The Metcon seemed fairly simple but WOW did it pack a punch!
Tabata
(8 rounds of 20 sec on/10 seconds off for each movement. Finish all 8 before moving to the next movement)
Row
Jumping Pull-Up
Double-Under
Push Up
My shoulders were super smoked after this one!
Wednesday
Wednesday is usually an evening workout, but Buster was back at the vet so I skipped it. (I wrote about Wednesday, it was not a great day frankly.) But the workout was something I was DYING to do, so I made a promise to myself that I’d do it during open gym on Saturday.
Thursday
Another 5am-er.
STRENGTH:
4 Rounds
50m Sled Pull forward
50m Sled Pull backward
The limiting factor here was definitely those sled pulls backward. I was only about to do about 215lbs and man did it make my quads BURN!
METCON:
800m Run
50 Ball Slams (30lbs)
800m Run
50 Toes to Bar (Scaled these)
The running was just awful, but the rest of this workout was fine. I actually really enjoyed how challenging the sled pulls were. It’s been a while since I’ve done them.
Friday
STRENGTH:
4 Power Clean + 4 Jerk @ 50% of jerk 1 rm (Started using 155lbs as my 1RM)
3 PC + 3 Jerk @ 60
3 PC + 2 Jerk @ 70
2 PC + 1 Jerk @ 80
2 PC + 1 Jerk @ 85
So this was funny because as I got to the last few rounds the jerks were just SO DAMN HEAVY and I couldn’t figure out why — until I realized I was using my Clean 1RM weight and not my Jerk 1RM weight. My Jerk 1RM is only 135 and I had been doing the math off of 155lbs so AY YAY YAY, let’s just say my shoulders got some extra work in!
METCON:
“Jackie”
1000 m row
50 thrusters (45 barbell)
30 pull ups
OOF. You can imagine how this went after totally burning out my shoulders on the lift. This workout was HA-ARD!
Saturday
I was up bright and early kind of giddy to do that workout that I missed on Wednesday. It involves a number of my favorite things and despite being a running workout, I just thought it would be really fun!
4 Rounds for Time:
400 m run
10 power snatch (65 lbs)
15 overhead squat
HAHAHAHAHAHA. FUN???? Oh man, this was so much harder than I anticipated.
Snatches and Overhead Squats are my favorite but I think because my shoulders definitely got a working this week, I was not at my strongest by Saturday and wow did I feel it during this particular metcon. I mean, I actually looked forward to the running each round, and that NEVER happens! It took a little over 20 minutes and my arms were just quivering when I was done. I went home and immediately took a hot bath and a nap. Worth it!
Sunday
Sunday I talked Garrett into taking a Vinyasa Flow class with me at my yoga studio and you guys: HE LIKED IT!!!
I feel prepared to take on hostage negotiation now. 🙂
*****
So that was my week in workouts. Did you do any workouts that rocked your world this week? Hit any PRs? Do tell.
The Most Wonderful Time Of Year?
It’s CrossFit Games Open time.
*****
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, consider yourself lucky. 🙂
But since I’ll probably mention it a time or two over the next 5 weeks, here are the cliffs notes from good old Wikipedia:
In 2011, the Games adopted an online format for the sectional event, facilitating participation by athletes worldwide. During the “CrossFit Open”, a new workout is released each week. Athletes have several days to complete the workout and submit their scores online, with either a video or validation by a CrossFit affiliate. The top CrossFit Open performers in each region advance to the regional events, held over the following two months. As of 2013 there are 17 regional divisions, including 12 in North America (North West, Canada West, Canada East, North Central, Central East, North East, Mid Atlantic, South East, South Central, South West, Southern California, and Northern California), and five in the rest of the world (Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Australia). The top athletes (up to 3 of each gender) from each region are eligible to compete in the CrossFit Games.
They began last Thursday with the release of the first workout (Aptly called 14.1 — as in Workout #1 of the 2014 CrossFit Games Open):
To be honest, I almost didn’t sign up to participate this year. I am not feeling in the best shape, I am only starting to get my workouts back on track after a year of inconsistent training, I am carrying some significant extra lbs, and I just thought the stress of doing a weekly workout that was “officially judged,” that would most certainly be hard for me, that I would then have to make public each week — ARGH — it was just something I wasn’t really feel like I was needing in my life at the moment.
But the more I thought about it, the more I remembered what a fun time it is at the gym just participating. And usually when people are new and they are scared to sign up I always say “Don’t stress! It’s a great bench mark and the scores don’t matter! It’s just for fun and so you can see your own progress.”
So, AHEM, I figured I needed to put my money where my mouth is and just sign up. IT’S FOR FUN, and dammit I’m going to have some doing it! (Also, if we’re being honest, I didn’t want to have a blank year in my Games Profile because then my data would be messed up and YES I AM A CRAZY PERSON THANK YOU FOR ASKING.)
Garrett + I spent a lot of time nervously speculating on what the workout would include and my only hope was that it would include snatches. And it did! Hooray. Too bad it also included double unders. Double unders and I get along most of the time, but when I am off, I am ROYALLY OFF.
Saturday we headed down to the gym to do this beast, and let me tell you it was a rough 10 minutes. I had shortened my rope the night before and about 2 minutes into the workout I realized that had been an ENORMOUS mistake. Not that I thought I would end up doing a million rounds of this, but it was just clear early on I was not on my game. Double unders are also SUPER mental and once you let a few misses get in your head, it’s the pits. It was hard to eek out 100 reps. Luckily Garrett and I both felt sort of disappointed in our performances so we hatched a plan to retest before work today, which meant going to the 5am class.
5 am and Double Unders are just a special way to start a Monday. 😉
Anyway — in the end it was great — I added some additional reps to my score (171 in the end), and I just felt like it was more representative of my skill level right now. I am still feeling super out of shape (FOR ME) right now, AND HOOOOOOO BOY will double unders remind you that you are out of shape (gasping for air – hey, let’s go do some snatches), but at least I feel like this is more representative of where I’m at. Saturday was just a mess. So Workout #1 is in the books and now it is on to the next! The workouts get progressively harder as the weeks go on and I usually tap out around workout # 3 because it always seems to have MY NEMESIS Toes to Bar in it, so I am excited to see what’s coming next.
Until Thursday, we’ll just be over here tapping our toes, waiting.