and I am back

Spring term ended a little over a week ago and I can happily say I passed all of my classes with big fat A's. Not that I was entirely worried about failing any of my classes, but I know for two of them I was hanging on a borderline between an A or a B. So needless to say, I successfully passed my first full term in the Fit Tech program. With that said, I will most likely only be completing one more term within the program, and probably with only 1 or 2 of the required classes- if that. See, it has come to my attention that I already have or close to having all the necessary credits to receive my Associates in General Studies (AGS). I know that is not the Associates Degree I was after, but if I go the route of the AGS than I can transfer to a 4-year university to begin working on my Bachelor's Degree. I have decided that I want to attend Concordia University and have already applied to begin in January. Now I play the waiting game.

In other news, it's been great getting back to a more regular CrossFit schedule. I definitely lost some of the gains I had achieved prior to the school term. I'm slowly regaining them back but it's been a bit difficult. I've enlisted the help of Coach Joon to help me work on my problem areas and to achieve some goals. He had me make a lost of my strengths, weaknesses, objectives, and future goals. I completed it and handed it in, next week we will begin working on a plan. I will keep you posted on what's to come.

Be sure I will now be posting more regularly again and look forward to making progress again!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

this old knee

You may have noticed that my resting squat challenge went stale. Unfortunately my right knee became quite inflamed and irritated, I gather from overuse. Between the resting squats and doing plenty of squat WODs at CrossFit Stumptown, my knee finally had enough. My chiropractor had me take some time off, which worked out since Aaron and I were heading out of town for the weekend. While gone I had moments where it felt great and then moments where it didn't feel so great. We had access to an indoor heated pool where we went, so I took to swimming a couple of times. Hiking on the snow at Crater Lake without proper shoes proved challenging as well, I did fine and only had one moment of pain. I am currently still not doing the resting squat challenge and will probably not go back to it on a day to day basis. Giving myself another week or so before getting back to it on a limited basis. Today I did some burpees and box jumps, it was the most intense movement my knees had to deal with in over a week. So far I feel good but we will see how they feel tomorrow morning. Running hasn't been an issue either, thank goodness.

My schedule will be changing this coming Monday, as I will begin Spring term of the Fit Tech program. I will pretty much be at school or work Monday thru Friday while still fitting CrossFit into my schedule. And starting April 14th I will begin a 10k training program for the race I want to do this coming June. In other words, my postings may become far and few between, but I will NOT stop posting. I will make every effort to post, at least once a week to two weeks. It's a great stress release and allows me to share my thoughts!

Oh, and I achieved something today. Did my first WOD with Burpee Box Jumps and RX'd. Only had one mishap and managed not to hurt myself! :)

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

experiencing a little fear

In a matter of 3 weeks I will begin my first term in the Fitness Technology program at PCC. I'm really excited to be starting a new chapter in my life and hopefully on the road to a more successful and happier career. I have been so busy for the past couple of months trying to get everything to fall into place that I haven't really taken a moment to sit back and really take in the gravity of what is happening around me. On top of getting everything situated for me to enter this program, I had signed up to participate in the CrossFit Open, I am still currently taking a class through PCC via online, and I am still hosting monthly fitness challenges for myself and others. I don't feel like I have had any down time where something wasn't plaguing my mind. Last night as I laid in bed I took a few minutes to clear my mind of everything else and thought about what I am about to pursue. I allowed myself to revel in the excitement of getting accepted into the program, getting my appeal to financial aid approved, and having many of my past credits transfer over. But what I did not expect was to feel fear. For a moment, and even right now, I am scared that I am making a wrong decision. Whether it be, will I like what I get out of this experience or will this hurt me financially later down the road. Finding CrossFit has changed my life, for the better, and I can not imagine not having it anymore. I like the rush of excitement when I hear the clock countdown to go, I love how my body is changing and how much stronger I have become, but most importantly, I am amazed at how confident I have become. Not just in CrossFit but in every aspect of my life. I decided to take the road to becoming a physical trainer, and hopefully later a CrossFit coach, because I want to help the other Nikki's of the world out there to find themselves the way Joon and Tony (and my many box mates) have helped me find myself. I guess my fear is, will I be able to? I suppose only time will tell but I am definitely look forward to all that I will learn in the next two years. And more importantly, I look forward to see who I will become when I am done.

my world of change

It has been an eventful week for me, so much is about to change in my life. During this process I want to be sure that I stay on track with my fitness and healthy eating habits. I'll be honest this week has sort of been a bad week with my diet. Had one too many Starbuck's hot chocolates (could you blame me, it's been cold!) and I feel like I have probably had too many unbleached enriched flour products. Not the end of the world, I just want to be sure I don't fall off the wagon for too long. And now with the snowpocalypse we are experiencing here in Portland, I won't be getting much exercise in this weekend. As long as I get back on track, I know I will be fine.

So on to my awesome news… I got into the Fitness Technology program at PCC and begin this Spring! YAY! First obstacle down, second one still to come… financial aid. I think it may actually work out just fine but we shall see. I decided to go on to the 2 year program and get my Associates in Applied Science oppose to the 1 year certificate program. It just makes better sense. Since we all know I am a career student and just might want to go back later down the road, I want to have something I can utilize. I have learned that my work load will be rather intense and my current work schedules won't quite work out with my school schedule. With some thought and conversation with Aaron, and a conversation with one of my employers, I have come to a decision to leave one of my places of employment and increase my hours at the other. It only makes sense as I will have more flexibility with my work schedule and the location is within minutes of the campus. But this decision does leave me sad, as I am leaving an environment of some incredibly talented and strong women! I know I need to focus on my future, and I know this was the right decision for me. Change isn't always easy.

I am currently taking a class through PCC online that will be used towards the Fit Tech program. It's a Health and Physical Education class, which requires me to set up workout plans. One of which is running. I have started to run on a track to work on speed and warm my knees up to it again, and then around the neighborhood. I accomplished something incredible with this, I finally ran my first 1 mile without stopping to walk. It's been one of those challenges I have been dealing with since 2009. It wasn't a fast 1 mile run but I am completely ok with that. Unfortunately my knee has decided to be an ass this whole week and I have had to limit my running and any form of squatting. Even sitting down for long periods of time is painful. I am focusing on mobility work to get myself back into running/squatting shape. And now with all of this snow, I will be taking a forced break in all of my fitness activity. I am hoping to get back out there and running another mile in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned!

This photo was taken from Pinterest.

happy new year's

Welcome 2014!

I feel like I ended 2013 on a high mark! Lost 3# on the last week of the sugar challenge and the last week of the year. I feel good about my body even though it is not where I want it to be just yet. I feel more confident in my abilities in CrossFit though I know I still have a lot to accomplish and learn. But I still have that desire and that is the most important thing, I think. So what will 2014 bring? I hope it opens more doors for me. I am enrolled in school again and classes begin on January 6th. I will be applying to get into the Fitness Technology Program this Spring. I think it is safe to say CrossFit has changed my life in many ways than expected. I am also considering in competing at a CrossFit competition later this year. What?! Yes, I am. So yes, 2014 will be a good year. 

What are you working towards for 2014?

This photo was take from Pinterest.

a one year project

Since May I have been taking a monthly photo, anterior & lateral views, of myself to keep a photographic log of my progress with CF. I didn't really put much thought into it, just did it as I thought it would be cool to see a before and after. But after a little chat with Aaron, I decided with his help, to take a photo every night that I go do CF for one year. This way at the end of that time frame, when I put all the photos in chronological order and have it play back to me, I can actually see a moving image of how my body has changed. So we started this project on Oct. 1st, 2013 and it will end on Oct. 1st, 2014. At that time, I will post the time lapse of the photos for all to see.

Another project that will probably take a little longer than a year, hopefully not to much longer, is going back to school. My goal is to go to PCC and get into the Fitness Technology program, with the possibility of attending PSU afterwards to work on my Bachelors. The PSU part is a maybe, but the year program at PCC is definitely a desire. My end goal is to work on getting my Level 1 Certification in CrossFit and become a Coach. Granted, I don't want to become a Coach until I have achieved success for myself. But I am well on my way...