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.