A year and a half

Holy Moly.

What a week! So busy. I honestly do not know how people with children and jobs manage to do anything at all other than barely get by, as I have only myself and can barely function day-to-day.

Was a little under-the-weather this week, so I didn’t get as many workouts in as I would like. After the Run Like the Dickens race in the rain/snow on Dec 8th, I was wrecked and sick-ish. Felt like I was coming down with a wicked cold all week. It seemed to come to a head on Thursday night, but by Saturday I felt fine. So, I don’t know what that was all about.

I went to CrossFit class on Tuesday and the best part of that workout was that I used a 40# KB instead of my usual 35# for a full workout. I wanted to use the 53# KB to Rx that part of  the workout, but I could only get a few swings up near my eyes and I don’t think I would’ve been able to do the 100+ swings the workout required. The other part of the workout was ring dips, but I had to scale to bar dips (with a red band). The red band was a little too easy for me, but the KB swings were quite a challenge so it balanced out.

I didn’t workout again until Saturday, which was the day after our box’ holiday party. Apparently folks partied hard and late (er, early)– so only two of us plus a coach showed up. We did front squats for the strength portion (I am pretty good, I think), then “Deck of Cards” for the WOD.

Saturday’s workout looked like this, precisely:

CFT Standard Warm-Up and Mobility

Strength:
Front Squats
Every 45 seconds for 3:00 (5 reps) – 1 rep @ 80% (85#)
-rest 1 minute
Every 45 seconds for 3:00 (5 reps) – 1 rep @ 85% (90#)
-rest 1 minute
Every 45 seconds for 3:00 (5 reps) – 1 rep @ 90% (95#)

WOD:
Deck of Cards~
Diamonds = Push-ups (knees)
Spades = Sit-ups (abmat)
Hearts = KB Swings (35#)
Clubs = Jumping Lunges

Joker= burpees

I was pretty smoked after this workout. We completed the deck and the workout in just over 22 minutes. The KB swings and sit-ups were pretty easy, but push-ups and jumping lunges were brutal. I have no balance for jumping lunges and looked pretty much a hot mess for that portion of the workout. Walking lunges are much easier for me. Oy vay.

Sunday’s workout was a 350 Burpee Challenge for MS. I partnered up with my friend, Mary. Partnered up, you do burpees (175 burpees each) until the combined total is 350. We worked at sets of 25, alternating. We finished our total of 350 in 29:06. After that, Mary peaced out. I decided to keep going and complete the full 350 individually. I finished in 51:19. It was no big deal and I felt fine. My conditioning must be pretty ok. Also, slow and steady. Obviously, if I hadn’t partnered up I would have finished sooner– but going slow at the start allowed me to stay steady for the last half.

B and I were pretty busy all week and weekend. Stuff is kind of crazy right now. Mainly good crazy, but also just plain crazy.

Hoping all unfolds for the best.

Hot Taco Intervention

I fucking love tacos.

I eat the corn tortilla instead of flour, because in my head it seems a little better.

Hot Taco on Park downtown (Detroit) is my kryptonite.

Holy cow! All my charges from there over last 2 weeks cleared on same day and when I saw the damage? I realized I have a problem.

Thank you, Crossfit– thanks to you, I haven’t gained a pound (lost one, actually).

Long overdue update and stuff

Is anyone out there?

Hi.

It’s so overwhelming trying to update a blog when you haven’t updated it since God was a boy. Where do I start? What was I going to say? What was this blog about, anyway? I dunno.

I’ll start with some stuff–

1. Things I am into: The new Les Miserables movie due out this Christmas. I am so excited about this movie I can’t stand it. If you don’t like musicals or Les Mis, you best not tell me because I will think less of you as a person. Btw, the best film adaptation of the novel is the 1934 French film by Raymond Bernard. It’s long, but brilliant. Harry Baur is the best Jean Valjean I have ever seen, and I’ve seen them all. Don’t get me wrong, Colm Wilkinson has all the stars and asterisks in my heart– but Harry Baur tops him, slightly.
2. CrossFit. I am ALL about the CrossFitting. I started up officially, for real, in June at CrossFit Transformation in Roseville, MI. It’s not far from my house and I am lazy about research, so I just up and emailed the box (aka: CrossFit gym. They call them “boxes”. It’s not perverted)– and then kind of fibbed my way into skipping the 3 fundamentals classes (as I did them at Motor City CrossFit over a year and half ago, which I conveniently rounded down). I would’ve liked to have done the fundamentals classes again, but I’m poor– and at Motor City they cost $150, on top of whatever the monthly fee is. I can’t afford that, so I had to lie. I didn’t WANT to lie. In any case, everyone is super-patient and awesome there and I think I picked the right box for me. The floor is a little dirtier than I’d like, it’s all autumn leaves and dirt and splinters, but I can deal. They are right to call CrossFit a cult. It’s addictive and cultish, for sure. It’s kind of what I’m after right now, though, as–
3. B (we’re still dating, it’ll be two years on Sept. 16) made a work-related move to Baton Rouge, LA in May. It pretty much sucks moose wang for us, but it’s a good career move. Hopefully, he’ll be back in the D sometime November/Decemberish. Thus, I like the CrossFit cult mentality because it keeps me from just putting on my pajamas and being anti-social after work every day.
4. I got to visit New Orleans for the first time ever and I love it tons. Baton Rouge was just ok (but I got to check out Geaux CrossFit there, which was awesome), but New Orleans? Fantastic. I ate all the foods and saw the Rebirth Brass Band one of the nights and they blew my mind. What a lot of fun! Can’t wait to go back to Louisiana at the end of this month– and hopefully, if B’s work schedule allows, back to NOLA.
5. I did Tough Mudder in April in Ohio with my friends, Gerri and Joe. It was awesome. Best experience ever. Great camaraderie and an all-around fantastic event. Can’t wait to do another Tough Mudder. Apparently THERE WILL BE an event in the Detroit-area in 2013. Am stoked.
6. Oh, check out the WOD Diaries. It’s hilarious. Here’s the Pilot Episode. If you like it a lot, you can contribute here.
7. I think CrossFit is really about the coaches taking pictures of all of the awesome and beautiful faces I make when I am doing gods know what possibly 5 lbs max on a barbell. But it looks really heavy, right? It feels heavy.

I think I will make an album strictly devoted to The Terrible Faces I Make at CrossFit.

Over the last year or so, I think my body has undergone some kind of transformation (of the positive variety). I hope to keep up the positive and make more gains. Goal: dead-hang and kipping pullup (by Halloween), a double-under (some day), and a hand-stand push-up (before I die. Am currently afraid of approaching the wall even remotely). My diet has been kind of loosey-goosey for the last few month and I haven’t successfully battened down the hatches since January, so I’ve started a Whole30. Yesterday was Day #1. It should’ve been Day #2, but I HAD to finish off a pint of pistachio gelato and other such. The box is starting one tomorrow, so I’ll join them for accountability purposes.

Anyway, that’s what’s what. (WHAT?)

Maybe I’ll update again sooner rather than later.