Wendler and other things

December has been a pretty good month for me as far as CF goes.  My Oly lifts went up and I miraculously was able to climb a rope one day.  I have no clue how that happened, I just did it.  One slight problem... I had no clue how to get down.  Oh well, what's a little rope burn on your upper, inner thigh.

This has happened to me before.  When I was little my dad taught me how to ride my bike but forgot to teach me how to stop (peddle backwards for brake).  I was having fun going around the cul-de-sac, so he went inside.  Then it started raining, and I did not know how to stop.  I kept going around in circles.  It felt like forever but I am sure it was only a few minutes when he cam out and asked me why I was riding around in the rain.  I yelled back "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO STOP!"  My dad felt so bad.  It wasn't that big of a deal.  I did not get upset I just wet out and rode the next day.

A similar biking event happened when we spent a weekend in Nantucket.  My parents rented a bike for me.  This time it had hand brakes.  Holy crap! when you pedal backwards nothing happens.  That is okay, I will just put my feet down.  I do not know it you have ever been to Nantucket, but it is hilly.  Needless to say, my parents had to buy me a new pair of Reeboks because there was very little sole left on the ones I was wearing.

Anyway, my lifts have gone up.  I attribute this to my new work out partners and Wendler.  I am still not happy with my body, because hey I am a girl.  I am planning on going back on 4 hour on the 1st after my new years brunch.

Husband would also like to get in better shape so this makes food choices in the house easier.  The other day he asked me if I still had the picture of him from last year when he was leaner.  I told him that I could not find it on my phone.

He then got annoyed and said: "I bet you still have a photo of that fat squirrl from Chicago that you use to give cookies to."


I said:  "You mean Newton?"

"I have two."

Thank God it isn't just me

Or... Maybe it is a bad thing it isn't just me. 

We now have turf down in the new section of the gym.  It is a nice green and will be great for sled pushing.  When I look at it all I can think of is football.  I have this overwhelming desire to tackle people when they are standing alone in the middle of the room.  It is a particularly strong pull when the person looks really vulnerable. Like, when they are doing a handstand in the middle of the room.  Seriously, doing that when I am around seriously tests my impulse control.  I thought I was alone in this desire. 

Nope.

Last night 2 separate people, one male and one female, told me they wanted to tackle me.  At first I was relieved.  I thought; hey, I am not a complete loon.  Other people think about that sort of thing too.  Then on my drive home it hit me.  This could be bad.  This could be very bad.  How many of us want to tackle each other on the turf?  Will the turf turn into a great hazard?  Will helmets be a required item at CFD?

Time will tell.  I will say this: Parties with alcohol at CFD have just gotten a lot more dangerous. 

Sorry about Friday

I have been sick and I forgot to post Friday's WOD.  This one is for Sam. 


5 Rounds For Time:
3 Tuck Jumps
3 Squats
3 Broad Jumps

For the bootcampers that are away

Here is your first away WOD for my boot campers that are a way for the holidays:

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 sets of push-ups and a 100 meter sprint between each set

I can not walk

I am having a hard time moving at all today.  I also have very obvious bruises on my shins where the bar hits in the dead-lift position and then on my hips where it hits when I do the hip thrust for the snatch.  (Yes, I am aware that last sentence sounds dirty).

One of my workout buddies told me to do the movement with so much power that it would bruise my legs. I doubt he was being literal but then again he is the one that told me I was made from peaches.  It took me 20 million attempts but I finally got it up there and hit a new PR.

Results of perseverance:
Plus: New snatch PR
Minus: Can not move

Not sure if it was worth it.  Ask me tomorrow.  I might just row tonight to loosen myself up a bit. 

Carolina Fitness

This Saturday is the Carolina Fitness Challenge.  It is a lot of fun to photograph, although it does make for a very long day of work.  Note to self: buy more batteries.  Honestly, it is one of my favorite things to photograph because it is a large group of beautiful people doing really amazing feats of strength. 
Here is a photograph from last year:

Peach

I am preparing to do this in a couple of months.  I would love to tell you that I put serious thought into my training and decided that working out with Tripp and Jack would be the best way for me to prepare for this ordeal but that would be a blatant lie.  I started working out with them because it is fun.  The fact that I have gotten stronger and that I push a lot harder is just a side benefit.

This week we have done prowler pushes and a horrible thing called a complex.  Oh, I forgot about the slam balls.  Side note: Slam balls are much worse than they appear.  This is especially true when Sarah G is yelling "NO REP!" at you.

The complex was: 21-15-9 of  Romanian dead lifts, cleans, push-presses, front squats and rows.  I used 63lbs.  It was truly awful.  You are not suppose to put the bar down while doing this but I did not succeed in that goal.  The last set of cleans I think I was a little violent.  I now have 2 clean bruises on my chest and one actually had a little egg under it for a day.

I like to believe that I get these bruises because I am super hard core but I have bee told that is not it.  A friend of mine assures me it is because I am made from the same material as a peach... No, I think it is because I am as hard core as Henry Rollins.  In fact I am sure that must be it.  Only someone as tough as Henry Rollins would like it when they get yelled at by their friends.  And I like getting yelled at; it makes me stronger.  I never sandbag when they are around.  

A day for CrossFit

Occasionally you have a day that makes you say to yourself, I could use a hard core beating to deal with the shit of life.  I don't like to share too much about myself through this blog.  Just enough to let people know they are not alone in feeling: Yes, CrossFit is in fact hard and others suck at it too, but it is worth it.  Today, I think I am going to let you know a little more about me because, frankly I need to vent and I have to work so I will not be able to get to the gym until 5.

Today, life handed me a big pile of steaming pooh.  It handed me this lovely gift through CNN Money.  Why do I care about this you ask... My dad flies for American Airlines.  In fact, my uncle and my great uncle fly and flew for American.  I worry about all 3 of them.  My great Uncle is probably the most in danger of loosing his pension.  He is not capable of getting another job to support himself at this time.  He is in his 70s and has severe Parkinson's disease.

I have tried calling my dad several times.  He is flying right now, so no luck.  I did finally get a hold of my mom and she said that they did not know this was actually coming.  You see, American is the only Airline of the Grandfather Airlines that has always refused to file for Bankruptcy.  They are kind of a legend in the flight industry because of it.  When I was in college an entire chapter in my Business course was devoted to how American has avoided bankruptcy over the years.  The most impressive was the removal of 2 olives from every salad. 

After Sept 11th, all of the pilots took a 30% pay cut and agreed to fly more so that American did not have to do what all the other airlines were doing, file for Chapter 11.  Today, that sacrifice was for not.  I know a lot of people will say that they are over paid.  I do not agree with this.  To become a professional pilot you need extensive training (which cost a fortune) and then thousands upon thousands of logged flight time before you are hired to fly a puddle jumper at $19k a year.  Sure, the income takes a huge jump after several years in the cockpit but you have to put in your dues.  A lot of time away from home, with low pay and sleep deprivation.  They do not do this for the money, they do it because they love to fly. 

My dad loves to fly.  He can tell you what any plane is that flies over head.  He use to take me to the air show every year.  And some nights he and I would take the convertible bug to the end of the Daytona lading strip to watch planes land. 

The day he was hired by American he was also hired by Eastern.  He decided to go with American a really lucky decision.  A decision he made because of American's honorable history.  Today, they finally gave in and filed for Chapter 11.   My dad should be fine until retirement but I do not know what will happen then.  He will probably take another pay cut and fly more.  He will do it with little complaint because he is an amazing guy and he loves to fly.

As for me, today I will work my ass off in the gym because I can't help my dad.  And when I feel powerless, Working out really hard is the only thing that makes me feel better.

Snatch

Certain lifts make me nervous.  This is mainly because I do not have health insurance and I have hurt myself in the past.  The snatch is one of those lifts.  I have been stuck at 65 lbs for a long time.  A few weeks ago I started lifting sporadically with one of the guys at the gym.  It started with just pull-up ladders.  He is a super nice guy and very encouraging in a way that works well for me.  To be honest he mocks me int o feeling guilty about how much of a wimp I am being so I do more weight.  (It is a friendly mocking; like a big brother.)

On Tuesday, we did my (coach's) WOD.  It was: 5 rounds of 5 man-makers, 5 dead-hang pull-ups, and run 200 meters.  I, unlike some other coaches, think that it is important to suffer through the pain I am inflicting on others.  I did it in a little over 15 min.  I actually liked it a lot.  It is one of those WODs that make you feel like you have really worked out. 

The strength component of the day was one rep max of snatch. As I said earlier, I was not lifting with the 2 boys that day because it was my WOD.  They were lifting across the gym.  I talked to them briefly about my snatch being ugly and joking ensued.  I rolled my eyes kicked one of them and walked away.  I put on my headphones because this required one of my power ballads... Jesus Walks.  Yes, I know it is a little silly but that song and Eminem's Loose Yourself are the 2 songs that make me push harder.  First attempt was ugly.  and Dave said: "you got it over head but that would not count in a competition."  So, I tried again.  And it was much prettier and it would have counted.  Cow bell rung.  Then the boys made fun of how wimpy I rang the cow bell.

Very Little to do with CF

There are 4 people in this world that make me laugh so hard that my stomach hurts.  I am not going to lie, I am easily amused.  I do think I could control my laughter if I wanted to in most cases.... I just do not know why I would want to. 

Random fact: All 4 of these people have a North Carolina connection. 

The first person is from the Triangle.  I discovered him in 2001 while listening to NPR.  David Sedaris did this series where he would read from his books.  This just happened to come on while I was driving to work.  I would laugh so hard that my eyes would well up with tears.  This was very dangerous because I was driving and I would have to pull over to prevent killing myself or someone else.  Driving without sight is generally frowned upon in Florida.

The second and third I met at CFD.  They are particularly dangerous when the 2 of them are in the same room together.  They feed off of each other and I truly believe that I might actually die from laughing so hard.  This was very dangerous when my husband was in the hospital with Rhabdo and they both visited at the same time. 

The most recent addition to this group is this person.  She does not live in North Carolina, but I do and I did not find her until I moved here.  I have been reading a few of her posts today in my cube and I am having a very hard time hiding the fact that I am not doing the data entry that I should be doing. 

I know what you are thinking: "Bea, what the hell does this have to do with CrossFit?"  I am getting to that.  Hiding laughter requires a bit of abdominal work.  I usually do not feel the ab work I do.  Granted the last 2 days I have done a great deal but I did not feel it until I started reading her blog. This one was the worst.  So, there you go Tripp, I did feel the weighted GHDs and 150 GHD WOD today. 

A year

It is really easy to let yourself go.  You start eating convenient food and do not work out as much as you should.  I have done this several times.  When I was about to turn 30 I realized how unhappy I was with my body and started to work out.  It was the classic circuit training and running and swimming.  At my heaviest I was 140.  That is 140 with little to no muscle to speak of.  I dropped down to 111.  Still, with little to no muscle to speak of.  My dead-lift at that time was 65lbs. 
I know, that is just silly but it was heavy and I did not bother trying to do more.  At that time I still thought girls did not really lift weights.  Stupid I know.  I will say this in my own defense: I was told by my track coach in high school that a weight room was not a place for girls.  If someone told my daughter that I might clock them. 
I just listened to that advise until I found CrossFit. 
When I moved to NC I got fat.  I blame delicious food of Durham and laziness.  It is funny how it creeps up on you.  It is just a pound at a time and suddenly (it seems) you look like this:

This was me last Thanksgiving (the one on the right). 138.... again.  This time my make up was different.  I was much stronger, so arguably I had a lot more muscle.  I could dead-lift 200 in this photo.  I had been working out religiously but was not watching what I ate.  I realized that my body was not responding to exercise alone any more and that I need to start watching what I ate.  I tried paleo for a little while but that made me angry and honestly some what depressed.  Whether we like to admit it or not food is a huge part of our social lives.  It is ingrained into us from childhood.  Yay!  It's your birthday, let's eat.  Yay! Its Christmas, let's eat.

4 hour body worked much better because it gave me a cheat day and legumes.  I dropped down to 122.  I think I could loose a couple more pounds but over all I am much more comfortable in my skin.  This is me now (the one on the left):

 

I wish there was an easier way to do it and that once you were there you could just relax but that is just not reality.  Over the next 2 months I am going to be watching myself because I have a lot of social gatherings involving food coming up.  I will still eat Thanksgiving dinner with mashed potatoes and soft rolls but I am going to do it in moderation.  I want to enjoy life and the way I look and feel while living it. 

Ummm, that was way worse

Yesterday we did FGB Tabata. It was truly awful. 10 seconds of rest seems pointless. Can you really rest in 10 seconds? I am going to say: No, you can not. I also have issues with the men vs women scaling.

Complete 40 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest. Perform 8 consecutive intervals of:
Wall Ball (20/12)
KB High Pull (70/52)
Box Jump (20″)
Push Press (75/45)
Row (Calories)

Yes, I did have a 12lb wall ball vs a 20lb wall ball but I had to hit the same target and I am only 5'2' to (let's use another CFD coach for comparison shall we) the male next to me that is 6'. Sure he has a heavier ball but he also has a MUCH stronger upper body.

Why is my box the same height as someone that is 8 inches taller than me (I am not even going to mention that he has some sort of grasshopper DNA in him)?

It seriously kicked my butt. I went to bed at 9:30 last night and I am still really tired. It probably did not help that I was on my 4th day on.

Okay, I am done bitching.

Rules

CFD has several blogs written by various members of our community.  I just read this one.  Which lead me to read the comments on this one.  I never read the comments section.  It just does not occur to me to do it.  I read it on my own blog, but I feel like they are not talking to me on other blogs.  So, I don't know... I guess I feel nosy when I do it.
The funny thing about the original blog is that it did not occur to me to view it the way others did.  Maybe it is because I am also self-deprecating and I know the feeling.  For me it is kind of a guilt, that I have to talk myself out of when WODing.  I start to think: you should be able to keep up with her or him.  Why do I suck so much?  Crap! Everyone is finished but me.  If you have never gone through this while WODing then that is awesome.  Seriously, I wish I did not do this to myself.
Most of the time, I love when people cheer for me.  A week ago we did Fran.  I have not done Fran in 2 years.  The last time I did it was at the cert.  I have not been avoiding her.  It just never happened on days that I was around.  When I did it at the cert it was not Rx.  This time it was.  My first Rx Fran.
We had an uneven number of people in the class so I did not have a partner to cheer or count for me.  (I know, very sad)  It was my own fault.  I got so nervous that I thought I should go pee before hand and that is when everyone picked their partner.  I have no clue why I got nervous.  I am just silly like that.  Anyway, while I was on the first round of thrusters I thought to myself, you should be able to keep up with Sarah.  And then I thought... Are you Fucking crazy?  There is no way you should be able to keep up with her.  She is much more badass then you are.  Just try not to put down the bar.  Okay, try not to put down the bar twice.  The funny thing is that 15 was the easiest.  I just went strait through and then at 9 I got to the bar and it was really heavy.  Who added weight to my bar when I was at the pull-up bar?  That is when Chris came over and started counting for me.  He really pushed me and because I was on nine he did not ask how many I had left he just knew.  He also started cheering for me in front of me.  Both of these things are very crucial components to cheering well which I will cover in a second.  He got me through the end of that WOD and I was very grateful.
Cheering for Kiddo 101:
1) Please do not ask me how many I have left.  That requires math.  I am in no shape for math.  I count up.  Instead, ask what number I am on.  I can answer that one very quickly.  That is a much easier question.
2) Please start cheering within my line of site.  If you sneak up behind me and yell "Good Job!", you will scare the hell out of me.  As demonstrated by my bruises, I am not very spatially aware.  This could be dangerous to you me and everyone around us if I am lifting heavy weight. 
I guess that is pretty much it.  I do not have many rules.  The main thing is please refrain from startling me when I am WODing.

My gym is better than yours

I am sure you have read Drywall's post about his gym being better than your gym. If you have not, it is funny and you should read it now. Most people get very attached to their stuff. They put a higher value on it than it actually deserves. This is no different for their CrossFit gym. It actually might be worst because you now have a community of people that you are friends with and that is a big part of what make you go to the gym. That being said... My gym kicks ass and is only getting better. We just knocked out the wall and took over the yoga studio next door. Don't worry we did not hurt the Yogis. They just moved into the basement. CFD is now 5200 square feet. That is a little over 2000 square feet expansion. I am not going to even mention the beautiful tree we now can look at.

We are getting all sorts of new exciting toys: 
- A brand new, 34′ Pullup Cage from Rogue Fitness that will include 8 built in squat racks, smaller diameter pullup bars, pullup bar space for up to 40 athletes at once. (This is very exciting. I will actually be able to wrap my hand around this bar.)
- Indoor Artificial Turf for sled pushes and sprints (Should be fun and less noisy then the cement outside)
- Pendlay Barbell Kilogram Competition Weights
- 3 Pendlay 20kg Bars (very cool but crazy expensive so good for competition and NOT for WODs)
- 1 Pendlay 15kg Bar (very cool but crazy expensive so good for competition and NOT for WODs)
- 6 Standard 45lb WOD bars (nice)
- Slam balls ranging from 15 to 30lbs (Yay! I have been wanting these for awhile)
- Jerk Boxes for jerk training and other Olympic lifts (honestly I do not care about these but others do)
- 2 Rogue Yoke Racks (This actually looks like fun.)
- Climbing Ropes (I need to learn how to climb first)
- New multi-height plyo boxes (Very excited about these. I hate the metal boxes.)
- Climbing Peg Board (I am very excited by this)
- Gibson Ring Trainers (This is the most exciting thing period.)
- Atlas Stones (Very cool, I will feel like a Greek God when I use this I am sure.)
- Physician’s Scale (I do not like this)
- Vertical Jump & Reach Board (Also do not like. All this will prove is that I am short and can not jump.)

So, if you have not been to CFD in a while you might want to check us out in the next moth or so when all of out once all of our new toys are in.  

You can no longer wear short sleeves!

I bruise easily. I think we have established this. This past weekend I went to the CrossFit Kettle Bell instructor's certification class. I got two nasty bruises on my arms from the KB cleans. I ask the instructor if I was doing it wrong and he said: "No, that bruise shows that you have it in the pocket." Meaning that, it was landing in the right place. Greg (the class helper) said that it might be that bad because I chose a lighter weight and could easily throw it around. After the bruise was there, I was not about to go up in weight and hit myself repeatedly with a heavier Kettle Bell. I found this article that says you should find KBs with flat sides. That was not an option and as I mentioned earlier, I think a good part of the problem is that I bruise easily. I am not sure what to do about this. I have looked it up on line and have found no magic non bruising vitamin that I might be low in. I have been going non stop for most of this year. No, I am not exaggerating. I have been working 3 jobs trying to get my photography business up and running. I also have had some family things that I have had to deal with this past week that have taken a lot out of me. This weekend's cert pushed me over the edge. I woke up yesterday feeling like I had been hit by a freight train. I slept most of the day then went in to coach a one on one at CFD. One of the other instructors took me aside and said very earnestly: "Bea, you are not to wear short sleeves again until those bruises have healed." I am wearing long sleeves today.

That was stupid

Yesterday's WOD was 50 deadlifts, 70 pull-ups, and 90 sit-ups. I should not have done this WOD. This realization did not accur to me unti the final round (It was actually 10 rounds of 5 dl, 7 pu, and 9 su), when I felt a pop on my hand. If you have never felt this pop while doing an ubsurd amount of pull-ups you are lucky. It is the sound of you skin deciding that it is no longer going to be a part of your hand. When I heard this I immediately though: "Oh F*@k! I have the Kettle Bell Cert this weekend. It is not like you use your hands with a Kettle Bell. Damn it, Bea!" So now I have a gaping hole on my left hand and a blister on my right.

PR

Two years ago my strongest lifts were the presses. I have no clue why I was better at those 3 lifts than the clean or the dead-lift, I just was. I did not do any sport growing up that would make me better at them. My sports growing up were sailing, swimming, and sprinting. I was good at them... Then I was being careless and I injured myself while doing the Jerk. I had to get surgery and the physical recovery took awhile but the mental block took way too long. My press was 90lbs. Presses are controlled. Presses are about brute strength. They are not scary, just hard. My push press was 95lbs. Push presses are a little scary. I feel it in my wrist when I do them and they make me nervous. My Jerk (since my injury) is 65lbs. Jerks scare the hell out of me. This is going to be a tough week for me. I won't go into why I will just say it is going to be emotionally draining and I was determined to start my week in a more positive way. It helped that one of my oldest CF friends was there to lift with me. She made me laugh and I realized how much I missed lifting with her. She did, however, say: "How much is that? (eyebrow lift) That is pretty heavy". Not encouraging. It took 3 tries but I got 103lbs up on my push-press. Dave helped by fast forwarding the Eminem past the intro so I would have more motivation. I was so happy I put it down then skipped over to husband to tell him. He just looked at me and then said: "You can do more". This was my response:

I was just going to to 53lbs for the Clean and Jerk in the WOD but the friend I mentioned earlier told me that was ridiculous and that I could do more weight. I did 73lbs. And guess what..... I did not die. I did not hurt myself. I was fine. I also was able to string 3, count them 3 chest to bar pull-ups together. It was a good day. Now, I just need to hold onto it for the rest of the week.

Fasting

Today I fasted. I got up at 5 am to coach a class. The fasting became difficult around noon. I spent lunch with my sister and brand new niece. Holding a little wiggle worm while my sister got a slight break. This was good for my mood but it was short lived. I quickly got stressed out about upcoming events and then everything started to make me angry. Blood sugar has an amazingly strong effect on my mood. I also noticed how often I am offered food. This might be why I am over weight.... First thing in the morning another coach at CrossFit offered me a power bar thing that he made. It looked like a giant blondie. That is to say it looked amazing. Around 11:30 I was on the phone with another friend who asked me to lunch. Then my sister offered me half of her pie. (I do not know if you know this about me but I love pie.) I went over to another friend's house to drop off a key and she offered me brownies. They were paleo brownies but still brownies. Actually, still food for that matter. I wonder if this happens every day and I just do not notice it. Am I eating way more than I think I am? Anyway, by the time sundown came (around 7:15) I was past hungry. I drank some juice and then stopped feeling so annoyed by everything. When I got home I choked down one slice of leftove pizza and felt way over stuffed. The body is a weird thing.

4 hour again.

I have been doing the 4 hour body diet again. I started this week. I have thought about eating badly several times already. I had a super bad day on Tuesday and would have drank an entire bottle of wine that night if it were not for a paleo practicing friend that kept me on the strait and narrow. Yesterday, I almost ate a bowl of macaroni and cheese but another friend made a comment about that, so I did not. Finally, the general manager of Brugger's asked me how my low carb diet was going before I ordered my coffee, so I was definitely not going to cheat then. Those bagels did smell amazing though.

As of today, I have lost a little over a pound. I know this, I know that it is working and that I should keep doing it but I still want bread. I still want sugar. I also know that I feel better when I eat like this. It is not just hype, I think I have made my body not like sugar by doing this type of diet over the past year.

If I eat a piece of cake or a doughnut, I get sick. I feel like absolute crap. It is a little sad. I use to love cake.

Why do I have such little self control with food? If someone told you, eat like this for 30 days and you will have your dream body, would you do it? I am trying but I keep wanting to sabotage myself for a few seconds of delicious mac and cheese. I am being honest about the seconds too. I wolf food down. I don't even think I like it as much as I build it up.

I keep thinking of that line in the new Lil' Wayne song, She Will: Karma is a bitch? Well just make sure that bitch is beautiful. Kraft Mac and Cheese is not a beautiful bitch.

Music

Music is very important to me. It makes such a huge difference in life when you have a soundtrack. As I stated the other day, I love Singer Songwriters, but Tracy Chapman does not help you through a WOD. There seems to be 3 firmly held beliefs on what is appropriate in the gym. The first one I do not understand at all.... show tunes. We have a few gentlemen in the gym that like this style of music for working out. I just get a visceral response to this music in this setting. Do not get me wrong, I like it... just not when I am trying to lift or get through a WOD. If this music is playing I need to put my headphones on. The next style of music is Heavy Metal. This one I understand. I do not like it but I understand it. A friend of mine told me that it is like classical music. There are delicate nuances that I need to listen to it more so that I can appreciate it. I have a hard time believing that delicate and heavy metal should be in the same sentence. To me it feels like some one is yelling at me and I find that distracting. It did not work for me when I was in boot-camp, it does not work for me now. I usually put on my headphones. So, what you ask is playing through those headphones... Booty music. By booty music I mean Ludicrous, TI, Kanye West, Britney Spears, P!nk, etc. I imagine what the girls in the video look like and think: If I endure this pain I will some day look like that. Silly, I know. But it does keep me going and that is what is most important. No one ever got stronger by staring at the bar.

The flip side

Not so girly side

1) I love NFL football. The Patriots are my favorite. I love watching Tom Brady. He never looks rushed. He completely trusts his offensive line. I have not seen any other quarterback take their time to decide which player to throw to. When he does throw the ball it is like a heat seeking missile directly to its target. It is a beautiful thing to watch.

2) F1 is amazing. These men drive at 2oo miles an hour while making angry gestures at each other with their fists. They get in crazy scary crashes then get back in the car the next week to do it all again. Sometimes, I find myself holding my breath while watching it. Okay, I do that a lot.

3) I love muscle cars. I especially love the 1967 Shelby Fastback. It is beautiful and the sound. Oh the sound.... It makes me swoon.

4) I love sports movies more than any other type of movie. I could watch them over and over again. I like football movies the best. Best funny football movie - The Longest Yard. Best serious football movie - The Blindside. It made me root for the Ravens.

5) I like guns. I really like this gun. It is an AR 15 rifle. It is easy to shoot and it looks really bad ass.

6) I like trucks in general... BUT I REALLY like this one. It is a Ford VelociRaptor. It is a Ford Raptor that HPE, the Texas-based tuner shop that won’t let Vipers leave its facility with fewer than 1000 hp, got a hold of. HPE changes it to 501 hp at 5100 rpm and 520 lb-ft of torque at 3200 rpm, thus dropping the 0–60 time by nearly 2.5 seconds. Did I mention the sound? Oh the sound... You should watch Top Gear to understand my love for this truck.

7) I love Top Gear. I love the BBC version better (mainly because I am not a big fan of Rutledge). If you have never seen Top Gear you are seriously missing out. It is funny and educational. If I had never seen Top Gear I would not know that I can out maneuver an Apache helicopter in a Lotus. That could be useful someday.

8) Any movie with Jason Statham. Seriously, if he is in the movie, shit will get blown up and it will be fun to watch. He oozes manlyness. He is like a manly slug. He leaves a trail of manlyness wherever he goes.

9) I am not sure this qualifies as not girly but I love CrossFit. I love that it makes me strong and muscular. I love that I can open my own jars and pick up things that some guys can not. I love looking at boys at NC State deadlift something I know I can snatch. I love that I am not a damsil in distress.

10) I love meat. I perticularly like meat wrapped in another meat. I will eat a salad but honestly, I would rather just eat the meat that is a required topper.

2 of girly

Okay I lied. I am bored so I am going to keep going. More girly stuff.

4) I like romantic Comedies. It does not matter how bad or predictable I know they are going to be; I will watch them anyway. My favorite is still When Harry Met Sally, although Bridget Jones (the first one) is a close second.... I do not like dramatic romantic movies though. They just make me angry for some reason (I do not know why, but I hated the Notebook).

5) I love French Macaroons. Honestly, I like looking at them more than actually eating them. They are the prettiest of all the cookies.

6) Fruity drinks are awesome! Revolution has one called a Blueberry Fizz. It is pure happiness. Especially if the bartender is nice and puts blueberries in it for you when he is only suppose to do that for the virgin kind. I am sure wearing a low cut dress helps with this. :)

7) I am not sure this one is actually girly but Rich assures me it is. I love Singer Songwriters. I like other music too but I could listen to singer songwriter stuff all day.

8) Betsy Johnson make me smile. Her stuff is so over the top that it is awesome. I am not certain, but I do believe those are cupcakes!

9) Just down the hall from the Mona Lisa is this painting, The Burial of Atala. I first saw it when I was 8 and it is still one of my favorite works of art. First of all it is large (6.79 feet by 8.75 feet) so it has an impact. The first time I saw it I was walking away from the Mona Lisa thinking "What is the big deal?" and then I saw it. I felt like I had been hit in the stomach. There is so much emotion in it. So much love from Chactas. The story behind it is: Atala was torn between her love for Chactas and her vow to remain a virgin and a Christian, so she committed suicide. This is the aftermath of that decision.

10) I can't think of anything else really but I was aiming for ten. I have noticed a trend of girl bloggers to take pictures of their feet though. I have done just that thing, once. Ignore the skulls on my shoes and it looks girly.... right?

Girly 1 of 2

There are definite advantages to being a girl. Bartenders tend to give you drinks a lot quicker. People hold open doors for you. And, providing they do not know you do CrossFit, men carry things for you. I like being a girl. It is fun (sometimes) to put on makeup and go out. It is also a lot of work. There is a lot of maintenance that goes into being a girls. I feel, the majority of the time, that this is time better spent doing things that are more fun. Things like running through the would shooting your friends with a paintball gun. I think this is best demonstrated when it come to the beach. I do not tan well. I do not really burn or freckle a lot either. I kind of beige. I could spend time lying on the beach tanning, trying to become a lovely shade of brown.... but that just takes too long. I lie there for about 5 minutes thinking about all the fish in the water I could be seeing or that I could be trying to surf. I could be swimming or fishing or looking for shark's teeth or better yet diving with sharks. That is when I can not stand it anymore. I have to go do one of those things. I have been told lately by several people that I am more girly then I admit to. I am not saying I do not like girly things. So, to prove that I know that there is a girl in this messy, football and muscle car loving exterior I am going to list my girly traits.

1) I love Penhaligon perfumes. They smell amazing and do not make me sneeze. They are derived for real flowers. They are expensive but worth every penny because sent is a powerful thing and there fragrances (especially Gardenia, Violet and Rose) are happiness in a bottle.

2) Peonys are my favorite flower (to look at). They are so pretty. Rich says they look like crumpled up paper but I think they look like pure girlyness. It gets even more girly.... I like the light pink and white ones the best. Honestly that goes for most flowers.

3) Tiffany's. Yes, I am one of those girls. I love that little blue box. I love the entire experience of getting something from Tiffany's. I love the store (it feels like you are walking into a vault). I love the movie (even though I know it is not actually a good movie). I also love that all the stuff I own from Tiffany's has only gone up in value. I also love how pretty but simple all of Elsa Peretti's designs are. My favorite piece of jewelry is still the Bean I got for my 18th birthday. I think that is enough girly for today. I should probably do some actual work. Tomorrow we will talk about boy stuff.

Katy Perry

I was listening to the radio on my way to work today when Katy Perry's song, Last Friday Night, came on. There is a line early on in the song that says: "is that a hickey or a bruise". Sadly, in my case it is a bruise. A clean bruise to be exact. At least that is the one on my chest. Then there is the bruise down my thigh. That is also from cleans; I lost my grip on the bar and it rolled down my leg. I have a big scratch shaped bruise on my inner thigh from a friend's dog (she was very happy to see me and I was wearing shorts). I have a lovely round bruise on the outside of my upper right thigh from a kettle bell. The final bruise (that I know of) is on my left arm. It is clearly from dips. I say clearly, but that is only true for other CrossFitters. I occasionally worry about the general public thinking bad things about my marriage. So much so that I have started to pay attention when I do things like loose control of a bar during cleans. For a long time people would say: "How did you get that bruise?" I would then figure out which one they were referring to and say: "I have no clue". For some reason people find my utter lack of interest in where my bruise originated from as disturbing. Now, I know I am clutsy. I do think that I bruise a little easier then most though. I wonder... Do I have a vitamin deficiency or something? Thoughts? Do you guys have any suggestions of bruise reduction?

2 a days

I think I started the 2 a days at a bad time. I have not had a day off from working in 3 weeks. It is the final push for the Living Social coupon that I put out. But, next weekend is it and then I get my life back. The 2 a days just pushed me over the edge. I was exhausted. Even though I did Helen Rx for the first time ever, I was really slow. I am going to do it again this week, but I do not hold out a lot of hope that I am going to feel any better.

Am I ripped yet?

I have been doing 2 a days for the past 2 days. This means that I am waking up at 5:15 in order to be at the gym by 5:45. Why so early you ask.... I have to be at work by 7. The result of this experiment so far is that I am super tired. I am hoping it means that I will get ripped. I wish you could see results quickly, then I would be encouraged to keep doing this. Right now I just want to tell my boss that I am sick and go home and crawl back into bed. Stupid work getting in the way of me playing and sleeping. On a completely different note. I found this website and I think it is awesome. She makes a lot of beautiful deserts that are Paleoish. You should check it out.

Ummm sort of....

I kind of got a handstand. It lasted for about 10 seconds before I started to fall over backwards. 10 seconds is not long enough to get an iPhone to focus and take the photo, so my legs are flopping over in it. Honestly, Kristen got a lot of photos of my butt. she decided to try to start the photo taking early so maybe she could get it but it just resulted in 20 photos of my ass.

I am still a long way off from a muscle up. Ollie swears I can do it, I just need to "kip the hell out of it". I will keep you posted. If I ever figure it out you can bet that I will make someone video it.

My arms do not work

The last 2 days have been a shoulderpalooza. Monday was: 15, 10, 5 man-makers (with an extra push-up) and 50 double-unders. I liked this one. I liked it a lot. So much in fact, that my bootcampers will be doing something very similar tonight. The masochist in me loves man-makers. I feel like I have really accomplished something when I do them... must be the pain involved.

Yesterday, we did: presses, ring dips, push-up, and shuttle runs. My arms fell off. I had to resort to grunting during this WOD. It actually helped.

I think it goes with out saying but I did not do my muscle-up training.

Husband came up with a WOD the other night that sounded horrible and wonderful all in one neat little package. It was:
15-10-5
Man-makers
Body-blasters
If you do not know what a body-blaster is, it is a burpee pull-up into a toes to bar. Of course because yours truly is so short my body blasters have an added component. They are: burpee to box jump to pull-up to toes to bar. That is right I can not reach the bar.

I want to do it. Maybe this weekend. It seems like a good one to do on Labor Day. My arms should grow back by then.

Inspiration

Yesterday's WOD was a tough one. It was 15-10-5 Man-makers with 50 double-unders in between each round. It took me forever because, well it was hard, and I suck at double-unders. I was going to work on my muscle-up program but I was so exhausted after this WOD that I just did not have it in me.

Honestly, I like this kind of WOD a lot. It makes me feel like I have accomplished something during the day.

Side note: One of the higher ups in my office just said good morning to a box of doughnuts and then happily walked away carrying a Boston Cream like it was a great prize. It was honestly a very cute interaction but now I know there is a big box of doughnuts around the corner from me.

I was a little defeated after the WOD when I started to teach my 6 pm bootcamp. We did two smaller WODs. The first one involved wall balls. I have one bootcamper that has been with me for over a year. Honestly, I am very attached to her. When she started she was scared to jump on the little box and had to do push-ups against the wall. She jumped on the 20 inch box on Friday and does all of her push-ups on her toes now. She has also lost a ton of weight for her wedding that is coming up soon. Yesterday she grabbed the 20lb wall ball. I have never grabbed the 20lb wall. She is, in my mind, the epitome of a badass. When I grow up I want to be just like Sam.

Then at 7 pm, Martha showed up. She is another long term bootcamper. With the same history as Sam - the wedding. Her knees all bruised and battered with a huge smile on her face. She said: Do you want to see my hat?. Of course I did.



Badass! (Yes, she just did the Warrior Dash.)

I need to stop being a wimp and work on my goals. At 8 I worked on my handstands.

Goals

For the month of September I am going to continue to try to get the elusive muscle-up but I am going to also try for a free standing handstand. I have already gotten a friend to agree to hold my feet.

The hardest thing about the handstand is the fear. Why is it scary? Simple, no wall to stop me from falling over. That is why I will use my friend at first, or at least until I figure out how to control the getting up part.

The funny thing, I find, about CrossFit things is that I want to do them all the time. At least when I have a goal. It is not socially acceptable when walking by a blank wall to just flip over into a handstand. It is also generally viewed as odd to want to do pull-ups when you walk by pipes coming down out of the ceiling (granted, this would probably lead to some sort of flooding but that is a small price to pay for fitness). The worst is when I see a guy in another gym taking himself very seriously Dead-lifting 65lbs. I have this overwhelming desire to push him out of the way and snatch it.

Being a girl

I have lost a bit of weight recently so I am a little more comfortable in my own skin. The result of this and talking with Rich and 2 other friends is that I am going to try to stop dressing like a boy.

I told one friend that it was a lot of work being a girl and he said that is the point. With that in mind, I went to the mall today. I looked at several different stores tried a few things on and learned several important things.

1) I still have swimmer sholders. I did not think this was the case. I was wrong. According to all designers, my sholders are just too broad. This is a little upsetting. Even going up in sizes did not help. It just made all jackets bulky in every other area and the sholders were still too tight.

2) Being a girl is expensive. I found a pair of heels that I really liked. They were comfortable and came in a size 5.5 (not easy to find). They were over $100.00. I put them on hold.



3) I do not understand a lot of fashion trends. As I stated earlier, I have big sholders. I do not need sholderpads. Why are sholderpads coming back in? Those are just silly. I also do not understand 3/4 length sleves, especially on a jacket. What is the point. The lower part of my arm will get cold or I will be shoving it up above my elbow because it is annoying.

That is it for now. I will keep you posted on my quest to become a girl.

Be Firm Beatrice

Two of the men in my life have told me this in the last 24 hours. I apparently need to be firmer with people when telling them what they can not do during a class. I had this issue when I was a middle school teacher. I hate confrontation so I am bad at telling people to stop doing something. This is a very bad trait for a middle school teacher to have. That is why I am no longer a middle school teacher.

So watch out everyone... I am going to be firm (but I still love you just don't behave badly please).

Magic belt

I tried out a weight belt last night after Ashley told me: "It's the greatest thing ever!" She was not lying. I went home and ordered one immediately.

To cut to the chase, I PRed my front squat. Now, I am not as strong as a lot of the CFD ladies, so it is not that impressive. I did my body weight. It made me excited about lifting again. It also did not hurt that there were only new women and me in the 5 pm... So, I looked REALLY impressive (which I am not). I just thought: this must be how Sarah G feels every day. When I grow up I am going to be just like Sarah G.

I also got help last night from Jack and Johnathan on my muscle ups so hopefully that will not be to far off in the distance.

Sorry for the grumpy post yesterday.

and I suck

(Will, STOP READING NOW. This is a self deprecating post)

I have noticed a trend over the last few weeks. I seem to be getting worst at Crossfit. My double-unders are still abysmal. Yesterday, when I did ring push-ups I only did ten at a time. I still can not do a muscle up. All weight has been feeling heavy

I seriously need to tighten up. Maybe I just need to focus on a goal. I would like that goal to be a muscle up. I think I am going to try it every day until the damn thing happens.

I also need to go back on the 4 hour body diet. I love carbs but I think the reduction in protein is affecting my performance.

Yay Football!

The majority of my dad's side of the family live in Connecticut. You would think that this would lead to peace and happiness when we have large get togethers and talk about sports. You would be VERY wrong.

You see, Connecticut itself, does not have major sports teams. The states on either side do. Those states are Massachusetts and New York. I am going to leave hockey out of this discussion and just focus on the 2 major sports for the Parker clan. I am of course talking about Football and Baseball.

My parents live on the Northeastern side of the state. My dad was born in Boston (I am sure you can see where this is going). I am a Patriot. I am also a Red Sox fan. Only mildly on the Red Sox part though, just because I find baseball boring unless you are there in person. Football though.... I love football.

My cousins, Tommy and Christopher, grew up in New Fairfeild. You could toss a rock at New York from New Fairfeild. (And honestly if you had the chance of hitting a Jet why wouldn't you?) This makes for some interesting gatherings.

At our 4th of July gathering my dad made me go put on my Brady jersey just to annoy my uncle. It worked.

This is just a long winded way of saying that I am happy football is on and I think it would be fun to do some football WODs (Uhmm, Dave).

Boot Camps

I was talking with two other coaches a few days ago about the classes we all like teaching. The two coaches were boys. They like teaching the regular classes the best. They enjoy interacting with people who are confident and wanting to achieve more.

I personally love my bootcampers. I love seeing them do things that they did not think possible. The look of shock and joy on their face is truly awesome. I get really attached to them. I get so proud when they push themselves when they think no one is looking. It feels like it means more.

I am sure it is cool when you can teach someone like me to do a muscle-up.... But I do not think it is as amazing as proving to someone that has a hard time running to the end of the block that with a little bit of work they can run a 5k.

Silly boys.

Jumbled thoughts

I have a lot of things swimming through my head today. The thing that is distracting me the most though is the photo posted on CF Football page today.



First of all, who spots like that? There is no way she can get below parallel with that other chick bear hugging her from behind. Second, I doubt she needs a spotter for 115lbs. Third, is it so hot in their gym that they need to strip down to only their underwear? Fourth, that top does not look supportive. Someone should tell her about Lululemon.

I also have been worrying about Will. He told me that my blog was depressing. He said I need to be more upbeat or he would stop reading. I do not want to be down a reader! So just for Will....

I learned I can jump rope on one foot. This was very exciting. I did not think I had the coordination to do anything even remotely close to that. Dave made me try last week. I was in a class with Ollie (who has jumprope superpowers) when Dave said that the warm up would be jumping on one foot. I said "I do not think I can do that Dave". He told me to try anyway. I did and I could do it. I got so excited that I shouted (I had my head phones on to help me with rhythm so I was a little louder than I planned to be) "HOLY S#!T, I AM DOING IT!" My excitement apparently was a great distraction to Ollie because I made him laugh which caused him to mess up. Either that or he was very excited about my new found talent as well.

Stupid boys

Yesterday CFD's strength component was plank hold for a total of 5 min. You could break it up into whatever you needed to to get through but it had to add up to be 5 min total.

Before I went, I was talking to husband while changing from my work clothes into my work out clothes. I asked him what the WOD was and he told me about the 5 min plank hold. I said "I wonder if I can make it through 5 min strait." he intimately told me that I could not. GAME ON! Oh, it was going to happen. Sometimes I think Rich does that on purpose... He tells me I can not do something so it will make me mad enough to do it.

I did it. I was so happy... for an hour. That is when Chris showed up and did it with a weighted vest. Stupid boy.

The thing tat surprised me about this whole endeavor was that my abs were not what started to give out. My quads were the muscles that started to shake. This further proved a point a friend of mine made the other day.

We were watching this random guy and when he reached for something his shirt went up a little. He had ripped abs. I mean, they looked like 300 abs. I said. Holy c#@p did you see that guys abs. This friend told me that they were show pony abs. I said I want show pony abs. He just smiled and told me that I had work horse abs.

Great! Now I am a Clydesdale.

Feels like home to me

Finding the right gym is not an easy task. There are lots of different types of gyms. I am definitely a CrossFit gym type of person. I have tried other gyms in the past and they were fine but I love the way CrossFit is set up. The drive to see my friends makes me go and endure the pain of the work out. This does not explain why I go to other CrossFits when I am out of town. I guess I am just a good little cult follower when it comes to that.

I have discovered that not all CrossFits have the same atmosphere. I went to 2 different CF gyms when I was up in Mystic visiting my parents. Both were nice. The people were warm and welcoming at both gyms. But there was just something about Groton that felt right. It felt like home. It felt like CFD.

The owner of CFG is a career firefighter named Tim. He was a very nice guy. I spent a great deal of time talking with him about the Tough Mudder after we worked out together. He made me feel a lot more at ease about it. He said the electrocution part is not bad at all.

I told him to come by Durham when he is in town. Hopefully he will feel as welcomed as I did.

I am a pull-up rock star!

Today I went to CF New London. They have normal sized pull-up bars there. For those of you that have not visited CFD, we have a soup can sized bar. My pull-ups were a lot better on the tiny bar. Maybe that is Dave's master plan. He makes us use the big bar so we will look like rock stars when we go visit other gym's. People will say "those people from CFD sure are good at pull-ups". And we will be humble because we are so shocked at how the magic tiny pull-up bar made us so much better.

I find it boring when people do this but it was interesting to me how different the WOD set up felt here. In retrospect it is not that far off from CFD but it felt really different for some reason. We did this:
Inch worm across the gym twice
Bench at 80% for 8 reps 3 times
Then AMRAP 15 min
15 Snatches
10 Over squats
5 Power cleans
Then run a mile
I think that Dave would have switched the cleans and snatches but I could be wrong.

It is fun to visit other gyms but it does make me a little home sick. I miss my peeps and my boot campers. Tomorrow I will go check out CrossFit Groton.

Eaton

Life on the road

I went 6 days strait this past week. I did not do it on purpose. It started on Sunday. I worked on skill work with Ashley. Monday I coach, so of course I will work out that day. Tuesday was muscle ups. Muscle ups are my new mountain. I am determined that I will be able to do them before December. December is my Tough Mudder and I think they will be a useful skill. Wednesday I coach again so, well you know. Thursday was suppose to be an endurance WOD and I teach during the Monday endurance WOD so I wanted to do it on Thursday. The endurance WOD got canceled so I did the regular WOD and the Endurance WOD that a friend made up (row 250 & 10 push-ups for 5 rounds). Friday I coach again and hey I am already there.

Saturday was a different story. I sat all day because I drove from NC to CT (11.5 hours if you are wondering). I ended the trip feeling very antsy. These type of trips are always dangerous because I end up eating very badly. I ate Burger King and Starbucks on the drive.

Yesterday was no better. I ate 5 guys and the carbapolooza that my parents provided for breakfast. This morning I woke up with something that felt like a hangover. I will be changing this behavior immediately.

What is she in to?

Do you ever wonder what people think about you CrossFit bruises? I have whip marks on both of my arms and a few on my legs. I clearly am not good at double-unders. But I do not think that is what goes through the average person's head when they see my bruises.

I actually had several cops come over and check on me at work when I had weird bruises up my arm after my wrist surgery. It took me a few visits before I realized why they were so interested in me that day. I am guessing that saying I did a bad job ditching a jerk would have been a poorly worded reason.

Mirror

The funny thing about the mirror is that you do not see yourself the way others do. I mean sure you are backwards but its more than that. Yesterday's post did not teach me to love myself more. It actually, had an unexpected outcome, for me at least. The one part that I did not even think twice about writing was the part that surprised me when it came from others. I am of course talking about the last little paragraph. The paragraph where we all provided links to everyone's page that was participating in the blog post. We each stated a couple of things we thought about the others. This part was tacked on kind of as a last minute idea by Nelly. It was a good idea.

It was good for two reasons. The first being obvious, to show us how easy it is to say nice things about your friends but how ridiculously hard it is to say them about yourself. The second reason is that we got to read how our friends see us. For me, it was a bit of a shocker: Oh! Really? That is how you see me?

The comments were kind and I found myself arguing with them in my head. Coming up with reason why their praises were really not that big of a deal or warranted at all.

I got a phone call from one of my closest friends a little later in the day. This call was unrelated to the post (or at least I think it was). She said: "I think it is stupid for you to continue to wait until you are down to your ideal weight for you to have your make over". (Or something to that affect.... I know stupid was in there). She then told me that I was cute. Which was very nice and I am not sure when the last time I was called cute was. Maybe when I was 6. Needless to say I do not see myself that way. I think of myself as fat and kind of plain looking.

Today the girl in the cube next to me (who is a little 20 something hottie) told me that "I want to be tiny like you."
Tiny? I am not tiny. Maybe tiny in height but not over all tiny. And that is when it hit me. The friend that called me to tell me that I was wasting valuable time waiting to be my ideal was right. I probably will not ever be ideal.

So, I am going to go ahead and play the part. Even though I do not feel badass or tiny, I can dress like I do. Maybe dressing the part will help me feel that way. I will be handing myself over to my friend and letting her look through my closet so she can make me into a girl.

Blog assignment

One of my fellow coaches at CFD came up with an idea after reading Nelly's blog. The blog post was about things that Nelly would like to be able to do and what she wants her body to look like. A lot of her goals are goals that I have as well. Some of which, I did not know the proper name for but I do now (Dimples of Venus).

I digress, Ashley (fellow CFD coach) wants us to come up with 10 things that we actually like about ourselves. They can not be character traits. This is not an easy task. I can tell you all sorts of things I hate about my body but things that I actually like or talents that I have that is a different matter. To make this a little easier I think I might do 5 things that I can do and 5 things that are physical.

Here goes nothing

1. I can do a 1 armed hand stand



2. I have a very strong core so I can do weighted sit-ups (even weighted GHD sit-ups) with a large amount of weight.

3. I am good at my job. I have, what most people call, a good eye. It really just means that I have a good imagination and I am patient. This good imagination gives me an idea what a photo will look like before I take it.



4. I can do a number of ring push-ups. (Give me a WOD with ring push-ups and GHDs and I am a happy girl)

5. I have a really high pain tolerance. This one sometimes gets me in trouble



Now for the hard ones.

6. I like my legs. They are muscular and strong. When I wear a short skirt and heels, they make cops treat me really nicely.

And that is where I peter out. I can tell you a list of things that I know Rich likes about my body but that is not the assignment. I could also give you a very long list of things I admire about the others doing this assignment.

Amy - Has amazing coordination and great rythum.
Ashley - Crazy strong, has an amazing body and is an awesome teacher
Colleen - Is a super fast runner and very funny
Linsay - Is also incredibly strong and she has amazing style (totally has the 11th CrossFit skill down). She was honestly one of the most beautiful brides I have ever shot.
Melinda - Is a superstar. She is one of the kindest people I know. She is stronger mentally an physically than I could ever hope to be.
Nelly - has the best wall balls I have ever seen and has this fearless sense of adventure that I truly admire.

I think that is Ashley's point. Not that I have to come up with 10 things that I love about myself but to know that other people can. So, maybe we should stop focussing on all of the flaws and try to see ourselves the way others do.

Highly inefficient

So, I finally got my chest to hit the damn bar. I have, for a while now, been able to get it parallel to the bar but getting it to actually touch the bar had eluded me. Husband said that it did not count unless I could get it to Touch the bar. He told me this 4 days ago. It makes me very annoyed when he says things like that. I suppose that is a good thing because then I get determined to make it happen.

I asked Ollie to tell me what I was doing wrong. He told me I just needed to kip the hell out of it. I took this under advisement.

Two days later I was in the gym with Jack and did my first chest to actual bar. It matters that it is Jack because a while ago Dave said that whatever you accomplish only counts if you can do it 3 times and if you do it in front of him. He then amended that to include me and Jack. I think he did this because I kept making him look every time I tried anything new.



Jack's response was: "That was a highly inefficient way of doing it but you did do it." Later that night at dinner I told husband about my triumph. He looked at Jack for confirmation. (Boys are so annoying). Jack then said. I think I only saw it twice.

ERRG!

The next morning he left for vacation. So, I videoed my highly inefficient pull-up and sent it via text to Jack. Problem solved.

I would like to take a moment to point out that when I told Dunsey, she just hugged me and said congrats. That is the difference between girls and boys. Boys are just meaner.

Tattoos

This girl I work with said to me: "It looks like you need a tattoo to do CrossFit".

Maybe that is what has been holding me back! My lack of tattoo! I actually have been considering getting one for a very long time but I can not settle on something. That and I am scared of how my mom will react.

I know what you are thinking. I am an adult I should not worry about how my mom will react. You do not know the story of my sister's tattoo.

When I was 12 my parents bought a Nordictrack. As a promotion, the good people of Nordictrack threw in a free heart rate monitor. This was one of the early heart rate monitors that would beep with your heart beat.

It was the late 80's and cutting off sections of your t-shirt was all the rage. Being a fashionable young (feathered hair and all) woman my sister had cut off the sleeves of her t-shirt.

My dad was hooking up the heart rate monitor to my sister (who was already strapped into the machine) when he noticed something. "What is this Liz?" My mom with her bionic hearing came storming in from the other room. Some how knowing what my dad was talking about. My poor sister, trapped by the evil machine's foot straps, was helpless. She said "Nothing! It is fake!" Yelling ensued for weeks. Or at least that is how I remember it. I was emotionally scarred.

That being said, these are the two that I have been wanting for a very long time:

First an Orca drawn by a Native American in the Northwest. Why you ask. Multiple reasons. I have always loved swimming. I was a water baby (that is a baby that is taught to swim before they can walk). I love marine life especially whales. I was born in the northwest. And a whole host of other silly reasons like that.



The second is a dragon. But I do not want just any dragon. I want a dragon that looks like it was drawn by Gustave Doré. I really like his Leviathan but it is not a complete dragon. Half of the Leviathan is in the water. The Leviathan is a sea monster and as I stated earlier, I like the ocean so it makes him a good candidate.

Why the dragon? My oldest sister's Chinese zodiac sign was a dragon. I have been thinking a lot about her recently and it would be nice to honor her in a way.

My favorite book has a dragon as one of the main characters, The Voyage of the Dawn Trader. Because of this, what ever dragon I get will have a cuff on its arm.



Who knows if I will actually get one, but it might make me better at CrossFit.

just a number

Yesterday was the end of my diet bet with Dori. Although I have lost a significant amount of weight (14lbs since Nov), I think it put me in a bad head space. I spent so much time worrying about food. When I had my cheat days I felt guilty so I never really enjoyed the food that I was eating. I would also think bad thoughts about friends while they ate delicious food. I am going to not diet for a while so that I can get in to a better place mentally.

I will say this... I am now in my size 2 pants again. I decided to try them on today because the plants I put on originally are so big on me that I do not need to unbutton them to take them off.

This is, even after looking at Tamara Cohen's weight is just a number posts on Facebook, hard for me to swallow. I know that I have way more muscle than I had before I started CrossFit. I know that muscle weighs more than fat. Knowing all of that does not make me feel like, at 124, I should fit into the same pants I wore when I was 111.

It is also hard to see yourself as smaller than you use to be. I do not think I look that different than I did Thanksgiving of last year. I still see myself as fat. I know that is stupid but I am not alone in this.

I have a friend that is incredibly strong and fit. She is beautiful and unbelievably badass. The other day when a former bootcamper of mine told her that she wished she was as strong. My friend's response was: "with thighs like this you would hope I could pick up heavy things". Seriously, she is gorgeous. Her body is amazing but she does not see it.

I gave her a disappointing look and she said "I know, I need to learn how to take a complement". I can act dismayed all I want but I am no different in my ability to take a complement. The strange guy from next door kept telling me how much better I looked the other day and all I could think was: how bad did I use to look?

How do you get happy in your own skin?