day 40....

WOD: 60ft lunges with 50#
            5 wall walks
            5 Rounds

I have been sick. Beyond sick. Sicker than I can ever remember being sick. Well, except morning sickness. That was 42 weeks. My energy is down the drain, my appetite is shot and my illness symptoms change every week. I just want it to warm up so I can open windows and clean out the funk!

Next week I'm headed to Anaheim, CA. When I'm not working, you can find me lounging by the pool with a good book.

We have one more week of the Crossfit Open. I'll be happy when that is over. It's amazing the side people bear when you put them into a competitive environment and then that lasts 5 weeks.

I have started a rowing class and next week I will be running again outside (all illness aside). Looking forward to some sunshine!

here we go!

WOD: 1 rep max C&J
Cardio: Row 2 mi

I walked into the gym and Ashley was finishing her front squat. I asked what WOD she wanted to do and she shrugged her shoulders. My next question was met con or strength? Her response, strength. Okay. We decided to do our one rep max on clean and jerk. Ashley had a HUGE PR. Then we jumped to hand stand push ups. BAM! Then we jump up and do toes to bar. BAM! My favorite part of the evening was when she ran over to the rings and tried a muscle up because of all our other pr's.

I love crossfit. I love my friends at crossfit. I love the lifestyle changes that I have made over the years.

bossy vs leadership

WOD: 12 min CAP
            12 KB swings- 12 DB slams- 12 SU

            TABATA
            Handstand Hold/ max DU

If you have paid any attention to the media lately, you have probably heard about this campaign to ban the word "bossy". As you can probably imagine, I have been called "bossy" a time or two in my life.

For example, my family is made up of a bunch of indecisive people. My mother is the typical "pleaser". She will go with the flow and will never made a wave. My step-dad is the "go ahead and figure it out, I'm up for whatever". He will wait to be told where or what we are doing. Not because he doesn't have an opinion or doesn't care- most of the time if he does speak up, someone else in the family will shout out something else. And my dad... well, even if you tell him something he will forget 5 minutes later, so it's best just to make the decision and then tell him right before. My sister and I are often the ones gathering all of the input, managing our families and young children and making a decision that is typically best for the younger kids. If you were an outsider looking in to a scenario that involves all of us, one could say my sister and I are bossy. In reality, we know what the task is that needs to be done and we do it.

I'm sure I was doing the same thing on the playground, with my social circle, and I certainly do this at work.

I don't take offense to the word "bossy". It's a compliment given by people who don't know that what I am doing is really my leadership style preference. We don't need to ban the word in our schools. We need to educate our children, especially girls, what leadership looks like and equip them with a more robust vocabulary to help them explain to someone what they see happening. It's all about awareness.

Now....GO DO IT. (just kidding)

one bad apple ruins the bunch

WOD: 3 mi run
           bar work (upper body)

Where is the time going?! How can these days be speeding by with no time to sit and reflect on my fitness, goals, accomplishments, thoughts, etc! I have done a horrible job at making this a priority. Although, I do allow myself a 10 minute break to eat my morning snack. So, I will try to dedicate that time to also writing my blog.

I have had great success. My looks might not be changing, but my attitude is. I changed my clothes yesterday to go for a run. I looked in the mirror and for the first time in a LONG time, I was happy with what I saw. I liked my body. I was so happy. My entire run was positive. My entire evening turned out to be great!

I'm on day 32 of clean eating. I had one small treat (a mini cupcake) at Nick's surprise party but other than that, I have watched closely. I had great results from the Bod Pod and have an even more aggressive goal to meet in the next 6 months. What I have realized is this all takes time, patience and consistency. It isn't happening overnight.

The Crossfit Open has been an eye opening experience for me. Every year I say I'm not going to sign up. Every year I sign up. Every year it makes me sick to my stomach to think about how I'm going to prepare. Every year I'm stressed. One person bends a rule and the entire experience goes out the door.

People aren't the only bad apples in my life these days. No joke, I bought apples last week and they are horrible! I never want to eat another apple because I took two bites and it grossed me out. Now I can't get the taste of that apple out of my head!

"Obstacles are placed in our way to see if what we want is really worth fighting for." -unknown

WOD: 14.2

Ewwey! I didn't like that WOD at all. I even said halfway through, "This is stupid!" because I just didn't have the upper body strength to get up to the bar. I still always amaze myself with what I can do. Two down, three to go!

Today's post is about my sister. On Friday, she celebrated a goal she reached. Katie ran 100 days in a row. This challenge started the day after Thanksgiving and from what I remember, the goal was to keep moving from Thanksgiving to Christmas during the "frequent eating" season. I went out on a couple runs with her but by no means was I going for any streak. Somewhere in the midst of all of this, she decided to keep going. Over the Christmas season, she would post pictures from her daily run. It was fun to watch through her camera. The running streak is a pretty cool accomplishment.

If you have a sibling that you are close to, this will make sense to you. Katie and I are 22 months a part in age and very similar personalities. We fought like crazy when we were little but by 10th and 11th grade, we started becoming friends. A sister is a safe person. You can treat her like crap one second but then be her best friend the next. You can say hurtful things that you don't mean and almost instantly, you are forgiven. (Luckily, we are beyond that point now.)

Katie has endured pain like no one I have ever personally known. Pain that I prayed to God he would give to me because I didn't want to have to watch her go through it. But through everything, Katie comes out on top. She is a fighter. She knows what she wants and she works towards achieving it. Even in moments when the easier option is to not fight for it, she fights because she knows it the right direction to move.

It's no surprise to me that Katie reached this goal. It would be no surprise if she went another 100 days. Why? Because she can. And if she can, she will. She's a pretty cool person. xoxo

really, only a pound?!

No WOD yesterday. I'm still recovering from being sick.

Still mad you only lost a pound last week? What about if you only lost .2 pounds?

I'm beginning to embrace my scale number. I'm not there 100%, but being reminded with a picture like this makes me realize that anything that shows a loss (even .2) is still progress!

WOD: 14.1

After being on death's doorstep for 2 entire days, I am finally back at it. I'm not 100%, but I'm moving, which is progress. Nick and Parker will also sick so that left Connor to take care of everything. Maggie was the best nurse. She knew that something was wrong and she didn't leave my side. Plus, she likes to nap so I'm sure that was an added bonus for her.

I worked my tail off on Sunday and then Monday and Tuesday there was nothing. I had nothing to give. My body talked and I listened.

On the plus side, I have been on a 16 day clean streak. Going strong!!!

I have a lot on my mind. I hope to blog later this afternoon.