Yay me!

Yesterday I got 2 double unders in a row several times. I think I could have kept going but every time it happened I got really excited and messed up my own rhythm. Before yesterday, I had to do: double under single under double under single under. And I sounded like a rhino while doing it. Dave actually told me one day that I was scaring the Japanese in the neighborhood because I sounded like Godzilla.

I have to give credit to a fellow coach at CrossFit Durham. He has helped me get better at a great number of things and yesterday was no different. I will say that I started working on them with Murph (who is awesome). She and I are at about the same level of double unders. She asked me if I thought we were getting high enough. I said I don't know. Then I turned to said coach that was walking up and said: "Are we getting high enough?" He said: "you just need to suck less" (not nice). He said this to me not to Murph. He is nice to Murph. I gave him an annoyed Kermit look and he laughed then actually provided help.

The help really worked. I think it might be what I need for running too. Bounce on the balls of my feet and do not kick my heels up. That is close to what Paul said to do with running. I guess these are points I already knew but having some one show you and then make you do it really helps.

Oh by the way...

I am self-deprecating.

I am really only kind of bad at CrossFit. Actually, I am okay at it. I tend to look at people, like my friend Christmas, and think why can't I be that awesome.




I realized that a great number of you might be envisioning someone that is bumping in to walls aimlessly when you imagine me. I really am not that bad.

How do you even do it like that?

I have heard this several times over the last few weeks. From L pull-ups are much harder why do you lift your legs when you do a dead hang to I do not understand how you can heal strike in those shoes. Last night it was chest to bar kipping pull-ups.

My chest was high enough it was just a bout an inch out parallel to the bar. I am very good at doing things the wrong way. Not only the wrong way but a way that makes them, I am told, much harder. I wish I were more of an athlete and less of an "athlete" (as Amy would say).

I have been thinking about taking Amy's advice an writing things down again. That way I can see progress. Right now I am just feeling stagnate. My weight loss seems to have hit a plateau. Don't get me wrong, I am happy with my 14 lbs loss but I would like it to be 20.

I still sound like a Rhino while doing most things: running (thud thud thud), double unders (thud thud thud), and box jumps (thud thud thud). I have asked for help from a couple different friends. I am spreading out the neediness. That way I will, hopefully, not wear them out with my spaziness.

Stop looking at me like I am a freak

I have been following a diet for 5 weeks now. I am in the home stretch, with one week to go. One week left until Dori and I are finished with out bet. I have lost about 6 more pound since we started this thing. I will be honest with you, I do not feel amazing. I feel the same.

The only difference is that I get sad when I think about pizza and macaroni and cheese. Actually, I feel a little violent when I think about others eating macaroni and cheese. I am pretty convinced that is the reason a friend of mine did not order it when we stopped at Red Robin on the way to the mud run. He was scared I would hurt him. Probably, rightly so.

I do not believe all the hype about feeling great because you are eating clean. I just don't. I feel the same. What is true, is that you loose weight when you diet and people look at you like you are a freak when you order a sandwich with no bread.

All sorts of diets work for people. I have known a lot of people that have had luck with Weight Watchers. It is a little touchey feely for me but it does work. What made this diet work for me was Dori. Dori supplied support and accountability.

Support and accountability are 2 of the most important things in life. We get better at CrossFit because we have just that in our box.

In one week I will continue to eat healthy. I will just be doing it with whole grains.

Mud run

I am now on the other side of my first mud run. I learned some very important things about myself. First, I need to be more aggressive. My WASPy upbringing does not mix well with competition. I actually found myself saying "pardon me" as I tried to get pass people. I did this through a great deal of the race.

The run was very crowded. There were a lot of times when things bottle necked. When this happened it got a little dangerous. The first bottle neck I had the wind knocked out of me by a rather muscular Army dude that slammed in to the back of me because he was not paying attention. He then quickly caught me from falling down and said "Sorry darlin". Honestly, ( I know this is SO not women's lib of me) being called darlin in a southern accent by a good looking guy makes up for the fact that he knocked the wind out of me. Later in the race I was tackled by a little girl (probably about twelve). It is important when the field opens up to get by as many people as possible to avoid injury in the future.

I got a little over heated. I might need to cary some water if it is going to be in the 90s. My body does not like heat. You would think this would not be the case because I am from Florida but it is. I am hoping that it will be cool in December in Tampa. It really should be but you never know with Florida.

I also learned that I have a lot of work to do. I started today. I ran a mile then did chest to bar pull- ups. I will progressively add more miles and try to get better at getting over things and crawling through things.

By the way the Minimus were the best shoes ever.

and now for something completely different.

I went to bikram yoga today.

Why you ask.... because Dave programed squatapalooza the other day and my quads are still tight. I figured it would be a great way to loosen up my quads. That actually worked but I did not enjoy it.

I have taken hot power yoga before but not bikram. They are not the same thing. At least not in several key areas.

First thing you notice when you walk in the door is how little clothing these women wear. Now, granted it is hot; but they are wearing outfits that are very close to underwear. Because they are wearing so little you get a very good look at their bodies. They do not have CrossFit bodies. They have "should I buy you a hamburger" bodies.

The walls are covered with mirrors (another thing I am not use to) so I can really see the difference between my body (built like a small tank) and everyone else's (very thin with no muscle tone) no matter which way I faced. That was a treat.

The room is set to 110 degrees. I knew this going in. What I did not know was that bikram has very strict dictatorship type rules. I was told that I was not allowed to drink water until the teacher said I could (this ended up being 15 min in). That is a brilliant idea right there. Stick people in 110 degree heat and then do not allow them to hydrate when they feel like they need to.

I was then told that if I felt dizzy that I could sit on my knees. If I felt really dizzy and nauseous I could lay down but I was not allowed to leave the really hot room. This also seemed like a stellar idea to me. I was actually imagining the law suite Rich would file when I died.

I made it through alive so Jack services will not be needed at the time but I did get dehydrated. I happened to weigh myself this morning. I then ate 2 eggs with guac and had a cup of coffee. I had 2 glasses of water before going into class in preparation for the heat. I was so drenched in sweat when I got out that I decided that it would be fun to get on my scale again before I showered. Oh, and I drank a Nalgene bottle of water on the way home. The result of my hour and a half sweat fest.... I was down a full pound and that was after I drank a lot of water and ate.

Erg

I have my first mud run this weekend. It is only 3 miles and the map that they have on the website is just silly, so I am not worried.

At least I was not worried until I did 310 squats on Tuesday. Now I am having trouble walking. I took yesterday off and have been contemplating taking today off as well but I have not had a great day today and I could seriously use some exercise to get myself out of this funk.

The other option is eating badly and owing Dori $50. Maybe I will just go for a run or row.