Tag: fitisthenewfab

fitness and nutrition, friendship, Uncategorized

Challenge Finale

2chicksandapen

The middle of the challenge hit and I made it over 50,000 meters. I was excited. 62,000 or a little more to more realistic. I wasn’t the top in my group at this time, but I was being consistent and that was my purpose go this challenge. The picture below shows me celebrating with a ruck in in very cold weather while stretching my aching shoulders.

The next holiday week was going to be different. Out of town for travel. Extremely cold temperatures, but I was purposeful in choosing activities that I could track my efforts on fitness while trying new things like snow shoeing and snow biking. Both firsts for me but both were trackable. 

I used the bike erg. The rower. The air runner. The assault bike. The ski erg. I even filled a ruck with 30 pounds of weight to lug around for my activity credit. I didn’t discriminate on the methods I used but I completed the most on the bike erg and the assault bike by a long shot. I’m glad I have a gym that has a variety of equipment to use while tracking 100,000 meters. Otherwise I might go insane.

I grew more tolerant of the bike erg. I adjusted to longer times in the bike saddles. I regained my desire to put in extra work a second time a day even if just 20 minutes of cardio. I walked more with purpose. I enjoyed completing activities outside even in the cold temps. This is something I have been missing for a good while now. Glad to be back in the mode of moving and pushing myself even in extreme conditions.

The picture above shows the stacking of 30 pounds in the backpack to begin the ruck. Based on my body weight, the 30 pounds was the requirement. It’s harder than one would think when you are trying to achieve distance. All in all it helped me prepare for my physical and mental days ahead.

As I wrap up the month and the year of 2022, I can say I logged over 100,000 meters in addition to other workouts like crossfit and tennis. I am proud of myself. I am excited to make this an annual challenge as well. I’m glad I had friends to do this with. All in all this was a great experience and I’m looking forward to my next challenge already. No matter what it is.

This challenge taught me rain, snow and cold weather are not excuses to get your fitness in. There are always options if you just make your fitness a priority.

challenges, fitness and nutrition

Approaching 100

2chicksandapen

Well I’m chasing 100 days of burpees with a plus-one-each-day goal. This is a chipper of sorts. A big mountain of 5000-plus burpees.

As noted before, I said I would provide an update. Here we are: 

I’ve made it from day 1-30 but I also got 35, 36, 38 and 41 while chipping away. I did burpees for breakfast today and bedtime burpees. That was definitely a first but may not be a last.

When I need to accumulate over 20 burpees a day I have to knock out 5-10 where I can. If I’m early for class I drop a few. If I’m stressed at the computer I drop and do five or so. I have a little hand counter that clicks each movement. This allows me to keep a running total for a day. This approach makes it a lot easier for me to find the time for the extra fitness.
What’s crazy is I’m a super busy person but there is so much time in your day that you can squeeze in a few burpees here and there. I haven’t lost interest yet but I’ll check back in here again soon.

As I enter this note, I have now added hotel burpees to my list of firsts. Many times I have said I’m going to do burpees when I travel but never do. This weekend I was in a brand new hotel and decided to go for it. Nothing else to do while I waited on friends so burpees it was. I am seeing my tolerance for number of burpees go up since I started.

Thanksgiving week called for a lot of burpees. Ha just shy of 400 ringing in 394. Holy wow! I could be mad but instead I’m thankful for burpees this year. My ability to keep moving to help offset all the extra calories I consumed. As an added bonus all these burpees have helped me improve my push endurance and quality of movement. A big bonus for me. I also did vacation burpees which is a big win for me. Gone for a week and each day made my efforts count while others slept. 

The half way mark is in the rear view. Hitting 100 days is the goal in sight. Will I make it? Stay tuned…..

fitness and nutrition, hustle

I Felt the Drop…

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It was crushing to say the least when I saw the 20.2 CrossFit Open workout. I felt the drop in the pit of my stomach immediately. If that wasn’t enough, I felt the drop again after my first attempt.

Double unders and toes-to-bars were listed as two of the three movements in 20.2. Both are hated movements by me and I got them both in one workout. How will I ever move past the mental mountain I created for myself?

It started with my normal Friday workout attempt accompanied by hundreds of failures. Not joking!

It took 20 seconds to complete 4 35-pound dumbbell thrusters and then I had 19 minutes plus to keep going. I only needed to get 6 toes to bar to move on. Well I got one toe, one shoe lace, and many feet above the bar but I couldn’t actually get my toes, shoes or any part thereof to hit the bar in unison to count a single rep per the Open standards. Talk about defeat. My hands hurt. My shoulder were fatigued. My lats were achy.

I was a bit ornery for a few hours after. To take my mind off of my poor performance, I watched some videos on strategies. I did some stretches. I thought about if I would try a second attempt. And luckily I had a Jell-O shot with friends that day so my mind maybe forgot about by failures briefly.

I had a weekend away from technology and the gym so I was able to recover and reset my mind. Fast forward to Monday. A redo is a thought but not a definite yes. Let’s see how my body feels in the morning. Met my buddy David at the box and he was going to do the workout again so I decided to give it a go along side him hoping to springboard off his momentum.

It worked. I got my six toes to bar one by one. They weren’t pretty and they were not strung together. Rather it took me 12 minutes to get them. What that meant was I got to proceed to the next movement which was double unders. Which guess what? I couldn’t do those either. Sigh.

Lord help me! I practiced some calming methods that I read about on the internet. I found a focal point and jumped in what seemed like slow motion. It somehow worked.

Lo and behold, I got one double under. Then 2 in a row. Three in a row. Back to one. Up again to 2. Somehow I made it to 24 and that was a personal best. Something to celebrate. I had many whip marks to go along with all the added attempts but who doesn’t appreciate battle scars?

Round 1 was complete. I chipped away at my mental mountain. I completed four more dumbbell reps which were easy for me. Then back it was to toes-to-bar. Can I get a few more?

My minutes were dwindling but every rep counts. I completed 5 more toes to bar. 43 total reps which isn’t a lot but but it was a lot to me. Another RX WOD for this girl.

I felt I was setup to fail by Mr. Castro. I didn’t let failure stand in my way. I fought back with pure devotion, strength and tenacity. I conquered my battle and set my personal bests.

This is what the Open is for me each year. It’s is a way to show my strengths, my weaknesses and my depth as an athlete. My ego hurt a bit this week. My ranking dropped significantly but I still have three more weeks of workouts to battle my way back up in the ranks.

I hope this story shares a level of me with you that some may never see. Some may choose not to see. But for me it showcases the lows and highs. Life is full of ups and downs just like sports. These examples or experiences are part of who I am. Nobody is perfect. What one shares online is optional. You can choose your filter. This story is raw and real. It’s authentic.

This is my Open book. My CrossFit Open story book. Year after year I write and I document my progress, my emotions, my highs, my lows, and my motivation.

One day somebody will be inspired by what they read. Until then, I will keep writing and working hard. I am in the Open. I am 47 and somewhat fit. I enjoy my Open challenges with friends in my gym community. Come on in and see what the fun is all about. You can find a CrossFit box in your area.

#intheopen
#crossfitmom
#fitisthenewfab
#hwpo
#kt247
#1095days