Sometimes it’s the little things

I love Fridays.  I love mentally recapping my week, thinking about my successes, things I could have done better, and planning my weekend.

All in all, this was a pretty good week.  I really got back on track with nutrition, and made it to the box and gym a few times as well.  My inspiration and dedication to reaching my goals is back where I want it to be, and I can’t wait to carry the momentum through the weekend.

There are a few things this week that have absolutely rocked my Kasbah, so here’s my little shout out to what made my week even better.

The song “Latch” by Disclosure.
If I even considered being cranky or unmotivated I just put this song on and any trace of it disappeared.  This is my current happy song.  Download it.  Jam to it.  You’ll thank me.

Raspberries are in season.
They are my favorite berry, and they are super tasty and cheap at the grocery store right now.  Even better, I don’t HAVE to put them in a glass of wine to love them… though they ARE delicious that way too.

New underthings
I kind of went a little crazy last week and bought a bunch of new bras and panties.  It might seem silly, but knowing I have sexy lacy matching fun underthings on under my boring work clothes every day has put a little extra spring in my step.  And you’re welcome for that visual.

The community at my box
I say this all the time, but holy crap these people are awesome.  I needed help and motivation earlier this week and a number of people went above and beyond to help me find my way back.  I would mention them all, but I don’t have super awesome nicknames picked out yet, so instead I will just say thank you.

In addition to that, we really are kind of like family.  Super awesome girl coach and Pervy but we love him anyway coach are in Hawaii as we speak and about to get married.  I think we all feel like we’re there with them, and can’t wait to welcome them back as husband and wife.  Crossfit is just an amazing thing to be a part of, and I get all warm and tingly every time I think about how lucky I am.

 

So what about you guys?  What made your week great?  I would love to hear what “little things” made an impact on you.

Happy Friday kids!

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6.27.2013

Yay day 2 in a row at the box!  Sadly, slight back tweak (more about that below), but whatever, I made it.  At this point, showing up is progress.

Warm Up: The usual.  My wall walks are improving until my arms get tiered, but I’m getting much closer to the wall than I ever have before.

SWOD: Hang Clean- 5×3

Warm Up: 10 clean pass thrus @ 33
10 front squats @ 33

1×2@53

I failed the 3^rd rep as I didn’t get anywhere near a full extension and was leaning forward on the squat.  Set up again, pulled and back said NO!

Both the coaches saw it happen and said, “What the hell was that?”  I guess it looked as bad as it felt.

I spent the remainder of the SWOD rolling my lower back with two softballs taped together.  It is very sore and twitchy.

WOD:

4 RFT
20 double unders
20m walking lunges
20m broad jump
20 wall balls

Time: 11:58 with Step ups instead of wall balls

I gave a wall ball a try and my back literally felt like it was going to punch me in my face (go ahead, try to figure that one out), so I asked for an alternate.  Bearded coach (you guys like your nicknames?) said to do step ups instead, and since those didn’t hurt I went with it.

As a side note, holy CRAP broad jumps SUCK!  I have never done those in a WOD before but seriously?  Jumping for four rounds is hard enough, but jumping AND trying to move forward?  Clearly, this is an area for development for me.

Penguins don’t usually leave the ground you know.  We waddle folks.  It’s our thing.

Pretty sweet weight loss challenge idea

My hubs is a pretty cool dude.

Obviously, I’ve been struggling with motivation here lately.  Just like the rest of you, he reads my blog, and came home yesterday wanting to help.

He knows me better than anyone and knows that I (1) can’t resist a challenge and (2) kinda love money.

I’ve done the whole “put money in a jar every time you cheat” challenges, and they always ended up not going well.  I would start writing myself IOU’s and then arguing with myself about whether an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s constituted one cheat or four- since there ARE four servings in a container.

Knowing that I don’t do well with negative motivators, he had a brilliant idea.

And because he’s in sales, he presented it all fancy like.

It’s called “Make it a $6 Day.”

It works like this:

Marry a super awesome guy who has some money he’s willing to throw at you.
Set up a jar.
Every day that you workout, husband puts $1 in the jar.
Every day you eat clean and paleo (ie, no grains or sugar for my purposes), husband puts $5 in the jar.

He knows when you workout because he sleeps in the same bed and is well the heck aware that you’re not getting up at 5 a.m. for any other reason.  You report in nutritionally each night to help keep yourself accountable, and he calls BS if you’re chugging wine or making grilled cheese sammiches for dinner.

At the end of 30 days you have a potential to earn $180, AND get back into the healthy habits that have carried you this far.

I am really loving this challenge.  I love words like “earn” and “potential” and boy does he know it.

The challenge started today.  It’s on track to be a $6 day.  Let’s see how much shopping I get to do in 30 days.

6.26.2013

I made it to the box today!  Thanks to yesterday’s post, I got a ton of feedback, motivation, and a few of my fellow Crossfitters who tough loved me into going.

Thanks everyone.  I really needed it.

That said, man today sucked.

Warm Up- the usual.  Didn’t feel like I was going to die half way through though, so that was a perk.

Mobility: foam roll IT, back, quads.  Quad stretch.  Overhead stretch.

WOD:

Helen

3 RFT
400m run
21 KB Swings
12 Pull Ups

Time: 15:30 w/RR

So, as I said above, this sucked.  The last time we did this benchmark was in mid-February and I did it almost 90 seconds faster.

But whatever, I went.  Hopefully I get my fitness back just as quickly as I lost it.

I think I lost my Crossfit mojo

I literally have zero desire to go to the box.  I went one day last week, and went at 6 a.m. yesterday… but totally bailed because after the warm up I was so lightheaded and dizzy I had tunnel vision.

20 minutes and some sugar later, I went home and laid flat on my back for a half hour until the spinning stopped.

I had good intentions of getting back there last night, even left work early to make the 5:30 class, and instead did a serious wine WOD instead.  I think it’s needless to say, wine WOD till 11 = no 6 a.m. class today either.  And a very very angry head to boot.

I realize not everyone is 100% motivated 100% of the time.  Even I have experienced the i-don’t-want-to-get-out-of-bed moments, but this is different 

Granted, there are things going on in my personal life at the moment that are weighing on me.  My mood is more up and down than usual, and those of you who know me are probably having trouble comprehending as I’m a hot mess normally.

I need to remind myself that excuses like those above aren’t going to put me any closer to my goals.  I think I also need to remind myself that this isn’t just about weightloss.

Yeah, I want to look good naked.  Yes, I have a size I would like my body to be.

But I want to be STRONG.  I want to be FIT.  I want to know that anything I want to do physically, whether it’s rock climbing or mountain biking or surfing or zip lining, my body is capable of.

Crossfit gives me that confidence.

It has the ability to give me the body I want, and has the friendship, the family, the camaraderie and support that helps me every step of the way.

I can’t reap the benefits of Crossfit if I don’t (say it with me kids) GET MY ASS TO THE BOX!

So here’s my pep talk to myself.  I’m putting it out there because I bet I’m not the only one who needs one of these every once in awhile.

Feel free to cheer me on.  Feel free to tell me to get off my ass.  Feel free to tell me how Crossfit has made YOU successful.  I need it all right now.

It’s worse than the water in Mexico

Overheard while walking to the restroom at work:

“Wow it really smells like poop back here.  That, or coffee.”

Um, PSA from your friendly eavesdropper… DON’T DRINK THE COFFEE!

A serious post- Serena Williams Rape Controversy

Ok kittens, this is going to be a serious post.  I know I know, not what you expect from me, but it’s been rattling around in my brain since late yesterday and I’ve just gotta get it out.

Yesterday I caught the news story about the Serena Williams rape controversy.  Haven’t heard it yet?  ABC News did an ok job of summing it up here.  If you don’t want to read the details, here’s the short version.  In a Rolling Stone interview she was asked about the Steubenville rape case where by two players from a high school football team were convicted of raping a drunk 16-year-old girl.

Her response, although taken out of context, was as follows:

“I’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a 16-year-old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you: Don’t take drinks from other people.”

Here’s the thing, I see where she was going with this.

Now don’t everybody try to shank me at once, hear me out, there’s more.  In today’s society, even though we all adamantly “don’t blame the victim,” I believe her comment reflects the average thought process in the average individual when they hear someone has been raped.

I watched an entire news broadcast last night where they discussed how taken out of context her comment was, and all the other things she could have said ABOUT THE VICTIM that would have been more appropriate.

But here’s my question Serena, newscasters, and society…  what if she had said, “I’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a group of high school boys and you’re going to get a 16 year old girl drunk like that, your parents should teach you: no means no and sexual assault is wrong.”?

Then it becomes a power anti-rape campaign platform, right?

It absolutely maddens me that in our society when it comes to rape we are so so SO focused on the victims.  We are so sensitive to not saying anything that puts them in a position of blame and are walking on egg shells when discussing these crimes.  But these CRIMES aren’t all about the victims.  They are about the people perpetrating them.

As a very independent woman who did some really dumb shit when I was younger, I was told time and time again how to NOT put myself in dangerous situations.  I took self-defense classes.  I was taught how to recognize if I had been roofied.  I went to the bathroom in groups, never walked in a dark alley alone at night, and most of the time did what I could to not be the drunk girl at a party that got taken advantage of.

Did the men of my generation receive the same education from their parents and society?  Were they taught repeatedly not to follow a woman they were aroused by to her car?  Was it beaten into their heads that just because a girl had too much to drink at a party and fell asleep in their bed that it is NOT ok to take advantage of her sexually?  Were they schooled on how to not make women feel uncomfortable when alone in an elevator with them?

I think we all know the answer here.  Women are raised from a young age not to be rape victims.  Are we paying the same amount of attention to our young men and instilling in them the morals and values that help them to not be rapists?

I wish I knew where I was going with this argument.  I only know that something is very very wrong  in our culture if we continue to only look at how we can help rape victims not be victims.

What are your thoughts?  I’m totally open to comments and other opinions, as I know this is both highly controversial and can be highly personal.

Why do YOU read my blog?

I know I’m not the only blogger in the world that gets a kick out of their “search terms.”

For those who don’t have any idea what I’m talking about, let me let you in on a little secret.  Sites that host blogs, like the lovely wordpress.com, give us bloggers some tools to measure and track how awesome we are.  The analytics tell us things like how many people per day are on our blogs, how many pages they look at, what posts they look at the most, what countries they are from, and how they got to our blogs (ie, what search terms they may have used).

I’m proud to say my blog regularly reaches 10-15 countries a day.  I have a few hundred visitors on average, and I love EVERY. SINGLE. ONE of you.

I’m also totally amused by the fact that my posts about sex get about 5x as many views and likes as any other posts I do.

This is a weight loss/ Crossfit blog kids.  But not to fear, the perverted commentary isn’t going anywhere soon.

With all that said, people end up at my blog through a variety of search terms.  As I peruse these I feel a bit remiss, as I have never actually blogged about 90% of them.  While I can see how the wonderful world of Google algorithms found my writing with these combinations, I feel awful that these readers walked away without the answers they were seeking.

So in an effort to please the masses, I give you my top 5 search terms, and my thoughts and commentary on each.  Folks, if you stumble on my blog because of one of these combinations please Please PLEASE follow me.  I want to be your friend.  You are my kind of people.

Number 5- 6 People Visited with This Term
Fat Snatch Hat

Hello new visitors.  As I am at work at the moment, I’m not willing to google “snatch hat” to ensure it is, in fact, what I’m thinking so I’m just going to go with my initial assumption here.  Hat’s are a very personal preference.  Find one you like and wear it often if that’s your thing.  Full support here, fat or otherwise.

Number 4– 6 People Visited with This Term
My crush has a boner in class

Ah my darlings, this is a good thing.  It’s a sign of an excellent circulatory system.  In my opinion, as long as he’s not whipping it out and playing with it, he’s not really breaking any rules.  And if you’re a girl googling for advice on this particular topic please keep in mind, guys have it much harder than we do in this arena (pun totally intended).  We don’t have the burden of physical evidence popping up when we’re oogling the hot professor and get a little too excited about our bent-over-the-desk fantasies.  Just sayin’.

Number 3– 9 People Visited with This Term
If you feel your mouth is not responding properly

You should smack it.  Or have someone else smack it.  Or I guess it’s possible you might be having a stroke.  So maybe you should see a doctor… who might smack it?  Who knows?

Number 2– 9 People Visited with This Term
Fat kid peeing out window

My oh my google you ARE creative with your algorithms aren’t you?  I get the fat kid.  I even get the peeing… but how did it end up out the window?  Regardless, searchers/readers, don’t let your kids pee out the window.  If you see a kid peeing out the window, feel free to correct their behavior.  I for one do NOT want to be the person in the car BEHIND the kid (fat or otherwise) peeing out the window.

Number 1– 12 People Visited with This Term
Look at stewie and see a fat girl

I can’t judge, this has happened to me before too.  I think it’s the shape of his head.  If you look at him and see a fat girl you think you know you should ask for her autograph.  She might the inspiration for the character and it could make you rich one day.

Unless, of course, that fat girl is me.  In which case, I’ll cut you.  So on second thought, maybe don’t ask.  I would hate for your children to end up parentless because you followed some crappy advice you got from a crazy woman on her blog.

At least I’m not sympathy pooping

I live in Florida.  It is getting darn close to 100 degrees here every day.

I was talking to a friend of mine this morning who has an outside job.  He told me he only peed twice all day yesterday because it was so damn hot.

That’s scary kids.  I lectured him on hydration.

I then proceeded to sympathy hydrate all day.  I have literally consumed four 2 liter bottles of water.

Which means at this point, I’m peeing no less than every 10-15 minutes.

I wonder when the dude with the office by the ladies room is going to call me on my 27^th trip back there today.

Maybe I should work an extra hour to make up for all the time spent peeing and handwashing?

Maybe I should just stop drinking water like I’m the one working outside.

6.18.2013

YAY back to Crossfit!

Warm Up: Some new wonky thing coach came up with.  I can’t even remember all of it, but there was yoga crap galore.  It actually wasn’t bad, lots of hip and lower back mobility stuff, so it’ll be good for me in the long run I’m sure.  I’ll pay more attention to what we did tomorrow so I can post it here.

I will say, I LOVE that we’re changing up the warm up more often.  I think for the first 6 months I did Crossfit it was the same thing, but we’ve changed it 3 times in the last 3 months.  Every time we do I get a chance to work on some of my weaknesses, so that’s great.

SWOD: Push Press 5×4

1×10 strict press @33 warm up
1×4 @53 (easy)
3×4@73
1×2@83- failed 3^rd rep so I brought it back down to finish the set
1×2@73

My max on this lift is only 93, and given all my time off recently I was pretty pumped that I hit 73 with ease and got a few reps at 83.  In hindsight, I should have bumped to 78 for that last set, and will remember that for next time.

WOD: ANNIE!

50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
Sit Ups

Time: 8:10 w/SU

I love Annie.  This is my 3^rd time since starting Crossfit doing this workout.  Sadly, this is the first time that I’m using my nifty little tracker, so I don’t really have any record of how much I’ve improved.  I want to say the last time around was in the 9 minute range, but I’m not positive.

I can say, without hesitation, that my abs have gotten SO much stronger.  I remember the first time I did Annie I could barely get through the set of 50, and by the set of 30 I was only able to do 1-2 at a time and needed to rest.  Today I powered through every set almost unbroken.  On the set of 20 I rested after 10.  And I think on the set of 30 I flopped on the ground for like, a second, once or twice before I sat right back up.

But regardless.  Progress.  Yay!