A few awesome things I want to touch on right away. I have been doing really good at eating clean food at home. Since my 30 day challenge has been up I thought I'd go on this crazy binge of crap food, but I just haven't. I did make nachos but loaded it veggies and meat, used very light cheese and gluten free chips. And they were dang tasty. I will confess, I did eat two cookies and a ton of coconut macaroons one night at a birthday party (after my challenge was over of course) and the funny thing about that, I lost a pound and it stayed off. Not saying that is normal but for some reason I was doing enough to have it not affect me much, other than maybe feeling like crap during my next workout. The biggest thing for me is really not drinking my "calories" I'm not a calorie counter but what I mean really is that I'm not drinking crap. It's water, coffee and protein shakes. Thats really a big win and it's something I will continue to do. With the occasional drink *cough* I love Guinness *cough* and maybe some whiskey or wine.
Ok on to week 5 of CrossFit, huge week for me as far as personal records go and one intense crazy workout. I'll start with pull-ups, pull-ups suck and make me feel weak. When I started I never thought I'd be able to do one, well...that changed in week 5. Class started and one of the workouts included pull-ups. In the past I've had to use one of those bands to help me get above the bar. So I went and got and band got it set up and saw people doing the swing pull up. Kipping is what is called. Honestly it just looked kind of fun and I thought I'd give it a shot with out the band. Jumped up grabbed the bar, started swinging...then bang. Done. I let go of the bar, thought about it for a second, jumped back up and did it again. Whoa, I did it, two in a row. So just wanting to make sure I was doing it right, I called Molly over and asked her to make sure I was doing it right. Jumped up and did it again. She just smiles walks away and says "you got it." She grabs the cowbell and rings it, yells "PR for Robbie" Stephen comes over and says "told you it'd be less than 6 weeks." Previously we had talked about it and Stephen bet me he'd get me doing pull-ups without a band in less than 6 weeks. I'm glad I didn't put any money on that, a nice gentleman's bet. He won, he was right. I'm curious to see where I can go with strict weight pull ups. No swinging but for now I'll take that as a major win. I also PR'd in Snatches, Thrusters, Front Squat, dead lift and back squat. Now, thats not saying a ton considering i'm only 5 weeks in but the amount of reps at more weight is what I'm enjoying.
When I started CrossFit it was the first week of the CrossFit open. I had no clue what that was but it's a big deal in the CrossFit world. I don't know who makes up the workouts but they get released on Thursday night and then whomever is competing has the weekend to complete whatever work out it is. Lots of people do the workout with out expecting to make regionals but they do it to finish and get a this big sense of accomplishment. So I've been hearing about this the whole time I've been at CrossFit and never checked it out or anything because honestly it really didn't apply to me. I'm new, can't do half the workouts they would do and I'd be embarrassed to make a fool out of myself. Well, as time has gone on I've gotten a little interested to see some of the people compete in the workouts that I've come to know. So I went on Friday after work to check it out. The workout had no time limit, which was a CrossFit first I guess. It also included two things I'm not huge fans of, over the bar burpees and thrusters. You start by doing 21 Thrusters, then 21 over the bar burpees. After each set you drop 3. So 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3. Finished. It was fun to see people push themselves but what honestly really got me, the people on the sides watching. They cheer, they encourage, they go nuts when you finish. The highest of fives, hugs, fist bumps and tears. It was insane. I'm starting to get it. I'm starting to see it. This isn't just an individual sport. It's a team sport. If someone succeeds, you succeed. No you didn't do the work for them or anything like that but you succeed in watching them accomplish something that quite honestly sucks. You cheer them on like you would a sports team. When the Seahawks won the super bowl it wasn't just them that won, heck I won too! That's MY team! Well the people that attend this box...thats MY team. And when they win, I win. I love it. I couldn't get enough, I wanted to be apart of it, I wanted to do the work out, but fear creeped in and told me I couldn't. So I left and went home.
Saturday, I went to my normal Saturday a.m class. Tired as usual but happy to be working out. I get started and the whole time during warmup I'm thinking about open workout. Thinking about actually doing it and seeing if I can. But again fear creeps in and I think "nah, there is no way" Honestly that was all my Saturday and Sunday, back and forth, back and forth, do it, don't do it, do it, don't do it. And I really hate when things eat at me. More on that in a second, back to the work out on Saturday. I got to workout with Mark another trainer. He schooled me in the bench press haha, but he was able to give me some really great advice on what I should do to maximize my lifts. Took that to heart and it really helped me get a few more reps in than the previous week. The actual work out of the day was the rowing machine, row for calories 21-15-9 and hand stand pushups that I really like for some reason even though I'm not super great at them. I was pumped when I finished my row because I was neck in neck with Molly and Mark (not that its a race but it made me feel cool) then I got smoked on hand stand pushups. Saw that coming though haha. Finished the workout and went home. Like I said, all day I was like "do it, don't do it" to the open workout.
Sunday, the final day of the open. The box open starts at 1pm and I'm thinking to myself, should be a light day, not a lot of people there. Maybe I'll throw on my work out gear and head down to just check it out. I leave the house around 1:15 thinking I'd have plenty of time to sign up if I want, with plenty of time to talk myself into doing it. That turned out to not be the case. Everyone signed up Sunday and the only spot left was the last heat at 3:30, two spots open. I decided to wait to sign up because I was not 100% sure I wanted to do it yet. I texted a few people to tell them I was going to do it almost to talk myself into signing up. I talked to both Stephen and Molly and both told me to do it but I still was not really confident that I could. I watched some really awesome moments happen during this day and inside I wanted too do it but my head was telling me I couldn't. I watched all the heats, until finally...3:20 roles around. I'm standing in the back and I think I talked myself out of it. I'm not going to say anything, I'm just going to continue to watch since there are so many people here and I'm just not feeling super confident that I can do it. Then I made eye contact with Molly who comes over and says "yeah, I was looking for you. One spot open, come on you're going to do it." Easily talked into it I went and got set up. Warmed up for like a minute, said a little prayer and tried not to let the nerves get the best of me. Stephen volunteers to judge me which is helpful. He gives me tons of pointers before starting. Molly puts the time on the clock....3.....2.....1...go.
I start doing the thrusters, 7 at a time. By the time I'm done with that I move quickly to the burpees. Half way threw I'm already questioning why in the world I did this lol. So tired already, I start repeating to myself, "just keep moving, just keep moving" I can hear people cheering and encouraging but I have no clue if thats for me or other people. Every once in a while I hear my name. But i've zoned out, completely focused on trying not to quit. Stephen between breaks keeps encouraging me to do a certain # at a time. If I go past it that number he says "yeah push it, why not you got this" if I don't get to that number he says "no worries, deep breath you got this you are doing good" it helps. I keep moving.
Then my worst fear with this came true, the box was packed with people and I was the last person to finish and all eyes were on me. I get to my set of 6 and everyone is now done. Honestly at this point I just said "screw it finish when you finish" then I heard cheers and encouragement after every thruster and I knew those were for me, I power through all 6 in a row, drop the bar, and move on to the burpees. Slowly moving but still going. Then 3 straight thrusters and 3 final burpees. On my final jump over the bar everyone is cheering. Open is finished. I didn't get to experience all the open workouts with everyone but I still felt apart of the team and apart of 14.5. I wasn't the fastest, have the prettiest lifts, or quickest burpees, but I accomplished it with the help from the people there who motivated me to do something I would have quit doing or not even tried.
This was a great weak of stuff. I'm sure paying for it though. Knees, shoulder and quads are soooooo sore. Week 5 had a ton of ups for me. I have a feeling week 6 is going to be rough because of how sore I am. But I'll continue to push it, eat clean and get stronger.
