murph

Today most Americans will be BBQing and spending time with family, or our shopping in the various sales that are happening. I'm not here to condemn anyone for doing that, it's a day to spend with those you love. But I ask that everyone remember what today really is about. Whether you agree or disagree with any kind of war, we owe the men and women who put their lives on the line for us to have all the things that we have. Let's not be selfish and complacent.

This morning I had the opportunity to watch the movie Lone Survivor for the first time. It is a movie that is inspired by a book written by the only survivor of an operation in Afghanistan. Sometimes we need a smack in a face about what is happening in other parts of the world. This movie made an impact on me, there are not enough Thank You's I could ever say or give to those men who died and the one who made it out.

I participated today with many of my box mates to do a traditional Memorial Day WOD that was named after one of the men who died in that operation, Michael P. Murphy. This WOD was one of his favorite WOD's, and he would perform it while wearing a 20lb vest. So today I did "Murph" for the first time, and I'm not going to lie, it sucked! Many of my gym mates wore weighted vests as well and gave their all. Instead of the one-mile running I did a 2000m row.

"Murph"
1 mile run
100 pull-ups
200 push-ups
300 squats
1 mile run

I finished in 52:02, it is the lease I could do. Thank you to all the men and women who have died and who continue to put their lives in the line.

fortitude

Hello my friends, I have resurfaced to post a little update on what has been going on and what is planned. But first, I would like to take a moment to publicly express my absolute appreciation for everything my love has done for me so far this term. Aaron has taken the role of the main cook, dishwasher, laundry doer, homework helper, and motivator. I don't know how I would've gotten this far into the term without our home looking like a disaster and my starving to death... and I don't mean that last part literally.

Anywho, it is week 8 and there are only 2 more weeks left in the term before finals. I am maintaining A's in all of my classes, though a couple I feel are just busy work classes. I didn't score as well as I would have liked on my Anatomy midterm but I didn't bomb it like I knew I didn't. There have been some challenging moments in some of my classes, and than some "light bulb went off" moments as well. I think I know more now than ever that I am in the right program. The direction I started off with in this program has already made a few detours- for the better. I won't announce what my plans are with this just yet as I am still figuring it all out.

As for my summer plans, my calendar is already booking up. I've made some new friends through my classes who have inspired me to do get out there and get a little crazy. I plan on giving the rock climbing gym another try, gonna go jump around on some trampolines, heading back to tree to tree adventure park with my gym mates, and for my birthday I have decided to take stand up paddle boarding lessons!

What I am most excited for though, is to have a normal CrossFit schedule again. I will only be taking one class this summer, which happens to be a required PE class. Yay! So no more just 2 to 3 days a week CF, back to my 4 to 6 days a week. Tonight though, our coaches gave us an option in WODs. We could do the prescribed WOD of 4 rounds for time of 400m run & 25 burpee box jumps OR we could do "Fortitude", which is EMOM for 30 min of row to 15 calories (odd minutes) and 15 burpees (even minutes). For some crazy reason, I opted for the insane WOD. I'm not going to lie, it was one of the hardest WODs I have ever done. The point to this WOD is that you do NOT stop moving. For an entire 30 minutes you keep moving from one movement to the next. Naturally no one maintains 15 calorie burn and 15 burpees, once your number drops you work to maintain the new number. I feel accomplished for not giving up and continuing to give as much as I could the entire time. I fought through side stitches, seeing stars, and losing control with my breathing. But I held on and got everything under control. I feel in control and strong. In a matter of 10 days it will be my 1 year anniversary of being a CrossFitter. I can not believe it's been that long already and I still love it as much as I need when I first started!

Well my friends, I will probably not post again until after this term is over. So until than, I hope you are all doing well and staying active.

checking in

I knew it would be a while before I'd find time to post anything, but I didn't expect it to take me four weeks. Alas, here I am and a whole lot has happened in the past month. The last time I posted I was complaining about my knee issues, specifically my right knee. Though my knee feels a million times better, I don't know if it's because I haven't done much in the way of physical activity as I had been. Or because it actually got better. Maybe a combination of the two? Maybe. I will only know once I get back into a normal fitness routine. Because of my knee I had to take some time off, allowing it to heal and rest, but I was also forced to back down on the days I CrossFitted due to school.

As you may recall I was beginning my first term in the Fit Tech program at PCC. Well it's been about five weeks now and it is safe to say that between school, work, and the little time I find for CrossFit, I have no life. I'm having to write myself "to-do lists" for school, for work, for home life, etc, just to keep up. In no way is this me complaining, far from it. I am so absolutely happy with the decision I made and even though this term feels more like "busy" work than learning much, I am gaining some perspective on the person I am becoming. It's all good!

I did sustain a new pain (injury?). A few weeks ago, during a WOD I noticed that my left sacroiliac (SI) joint was becoming bothersome. Going into round three of the WOD I was in the middle of a 400m run when it became apparent that I needed to stop. The next day my chiropractor gathered that it was my SI joint and I have irritated all the local muscles. In all of my stubbornness I ignored his orders to take a few days off from working out, the pain persisted. I am now doing as ordered and have taken the last week off. Today I will go back to the gym to row and get something in so I don't feel like a slob (I really do feel gross for not being active). I am hoping to be able to get back into a normal CF routine soon.

I am still hosting monthly fitness challenges though I decided to change things up for the month of May. Head on over to Challenge Me Fit's Facebook page and check out May's challenge(s) and join me! We can inspire each other to stay on track!

Well my friends, until next time (and I really do hope it's sooner than later), take care of yourselves!

Photo 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.

day 10, 11, 13/30: resting squats & realizations

My resting squat is definitely getting better, though from time to time my knees (specifically the right one) decides to be bothersome. I think the change in weather right now is not helping either. On day 11 I managed to get a flat-footed squat for a moment. This is a huge achievement and means my ankle mobility is getting better.

Day 10 after a sweaty WOD

Day 11, felt good in my squat & got some stretching in.

Day 13 after the CrossFit Open 14.3 WOD.

The day before participating in the CrossFit Open 14.3 with my gym mates I practiced my box jumps. I haven't been able to actually jump the 20 inch box. For the actual WOD step-ups are legal, so I knew I would be fine but at some point I need to get over the mental hurdle that stops me from jumping onto a box. So I practiced with a box up against a lifting platform, it makes the box about 16 inches. I then placed a 25# bumper plate on the floor and jumped onto the box that way, that make it about 18 inches. When I got comfortable with that, I changed the 25# plate with a 10# one. This made me a little nervous, but after a couple of failed attempts I got the hang of it. The next step was to remove the plate all together and just jump up from the ground. And on my first try I nailed it! I did it a few more times and nailed it each time! I FINALLY got box jumps! Now at the Open I didn't do box jumps and did step-ups as I was informed these would be more efficient.

And, today I got my new jump rope in the mail today. We sized it to fit my height and I will give it a go this week. Maybe I will finally get double unders! I will keep you posted on my progress (or lack thereof).

*There was no day 12 in resting squat due to knee issues.