Summer

Too busy living this summer to blog. But the Mockingbirds had a great time Playing Hard, Drinking Beer, and Breaking Hearts.

I kicked the 300 workout's ass in the final. Went to Baton Rouge, Chattanooga, and Dallas (multiple times). Attempted to waterski for the first time (unsuccessfully). Dealt with or avoided the heat. Drank plenty of Sweet Tea Vodkas. Still teaching myself my way around the kitchen, but my baking is coming along well. My favorite this I made this summer were Car Bomb Cupcakes. Those turned out beautifully. Tasty, too.

Mockingbirds

The Mockingbirds went undefeated at Bloodfest, winning our three matches of the day and completely annihilating the opposition in the 3rd v 4th place establishing boat race. Major props to the Baton Rouge ladies who traveled down for the weekend and were a blast to play and party with. What a fantastic weekend of CrossFit (finishing the Spartan before a full day at the tourney), rugby, friends and fun.

Ouch

Immensely proud of myself for finishing this workout, which is pictured today on the kettlebell blog. My hands were tearing open and the snatches were laddering up to 10 per side (I think this might have been the round of 8 or 9), but I finished without stopping!

One week left in the Spartan and I can feel my resolve flagging. This week I've eaten out, and badly, a number of times and Saturday night I fell off the wagon with a few beers at the post-tournament social. Then yesterday I had a milkshake and french fries, but this was a planned falling off the wagon. Getting two fillings, both in rear molars, on opposite sides of my mouth makes for a grumpy Amy. The milkshake assuages that. And the fries cut the sweetness some after five weeks without sugar. That being said, I'm looking forward to the occasional mornings I can choose to have pumpkin bread with my coffee instead of deli meat - again.

Perservere. Overcome. Conquer.

This morning I hit the snooze at least twice laying in bed and contemplating completely skipping out on the 300 workout. Then I remember that I'd already shelled out the money for the program and I might as well just do it. Which in turn made me wonder why I pay to torture myself this way. Once at the gym I continued to wonder as my apprehension grew through the body comps (though that was better than expected) and warm up and intro. But finally my hands were on the pullup bar and we were off.

Not only did I manage to survive the Spartan workout, but I also finished within the allotted twenty minute time. The dead lifts and kettlebell clean and presses I totally knocked out, absolutely no problems. A 10 kilo kettlebell? Please. I eat those for breakfast.

Even the jumping pullups, even the final 25 reps of the day, didn't give me much of an issue, proving to myself that most of my issue there is mental. I chose to step up for the box jumps, which turned out to be a wise decision because at about 2o in my legs started getting shaky and somewhere after 30 I actually caught the edge of the box with my foot. My pushups need work, but it was the floor wipers that made me want to cry. Randall and my spotter (whose name I have forgotten...) got me through them in sets of five or four or three at a time.

Then, before I knew it Mike was calling the four minute mark, I was up and on the bar for pullups and then I was done. At 17:24.

And after a half an hour and a liter of water I was back to making silly faces.

power tools

Tonight's discovery: Projects involving power tools work out best when done while wearing a tiara. (Reading the directions probably helps, too.)

I now have curtains hanging in my apartment! YAY!

Baby Calves

Okay, I promised Mrs. Juicebox a blog post, and a blog post she will get. A promise of this nature, especially one made while at a Dooce book signing, is not something one can default on.


These are baby calves, just a few weeks old, born on my family's farm. They frolic. They nurse. They huddle down in the grass to hide and when the flies are bothering them they flap their ears in the most floppy and adorable way possible. Baby calves do not indulge in self pity. Unlike me. Over the past weeks I've been indulging in more than my fair. Long, dramatic, ridiculous story short: I got dumped. The guy I was crazy about decided he didn't want to play anymore and knocked over the lego castle he'd built up under me.
Broken hearts happen. They happen to lots of people all the time. It sucks, but the world keeps moving, and it certainly doesn't make me special. But I did find that letting myself be not okay for a while helped and now I am better. Not 100% better, but still better. At my parent's this weekend I remembered that I am strong enough to be on my own. For a few weeks I forgot that. And while the rejection still stings and I still miss him, I know I don't need him. For now, that's pretty good.

I am Crossfit part I

Crossfit Central is doing the "I Am Crossfit" program to kick off 2009 - intense workouts outside of class in addition to the usual and zone dieting, keeping a food journal, before and after measurements, the whole bit.

Benchmark workout is 3 rounds of:
400m run
15 pullups
7 hanging cleans

I chose the 65 lb weight and attempted pull ups with a band and today I didn't finish in the given 12 minutes. Disappointing, but there's nowhere to go but up. And, not doing olympic lifts very often or being able to do even a single real pull up I knew I was really challenging myself. So, here's to 2009. Fitter, faster, and more of a bad ass on the rugby pitch.

Rocking the Kettlebell

Crazy workout today - power swings with a 24 kg (53 pound) kettlebell. Bottoms up swings and presses (!) with the 16 kg kettlebell.

Rocktoberfest indeed.

Rocktoberfest

For whatever reason I keep thinking I'm going to leave work (13 minutes and 20 seconds) and walk out into a chilly, dim late fall evening. Despite the fact that it is most definitely still summer here in Austin. I think my body has decided enough with this weather, if we can't have it for real, we'll fool ourselves. Even Denver wasn't as deliciously cool as expected. Not incredibly hot, and the changing Aspen's on the drive to Boulder for Sunday's match were lovely, but it was nothing like I had hoped. Then again, pretty much nothing about the month of September, much less that trip, was. On the bright side, the beds in the hotel were fantastic and the pitch in Boulder was downright lush. An "oh, please tackle me" kind of lush.

October isn't starting out so great either, for a variety of reasons. I am, however, going to attempt to celebrate Rocktoberfest along with The Modern Gal. I pledge that I am going to do my best to make that 16 kg kettlebell my primary weight. I may not be able to press 16 kilos by the end of the month, but I will at least be able to snatch it. That will make me feel like I rock.

Also, I pledge to come up with another pledge for Rocktoberfest...

Plus, DQ has Pumpkin Pie Blizzards for the month of October. I'm going to see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist tonight with friends. Iron Man is out on DVD. Sunday I get my birthday cake during Pattie and Carrey's house warming. Not to mention that I get to play lots of rugby during the month of October. Fun, low-stress rugby with our B-side, starting as eight man.

*I know I'm not blogging much. Keep up with me on Twitter instead.*

West LAUs

(photo credit to Ashley Mefford)

This past weekend was fantastic. Getting to play with such talented, cool people was a lot of fun. Wow, I'm impressed by my TRU teammates and playing with them was fantastic. My playing was far from spectacular, but I kept up and didn't do anything too stupid. I'm happy with my performance. Everything around me made sense, I remembered to look up and see what the offense was doing. I'm learning more with every match and playing feels good. My shoulder may disagree with me and I jacked up my left ring finger, but it's worth it. So worth it. (You never realize how much you use something like a minor finger until it hurts to type. Or open a peanut butter jar or swing a kettlebell.)



TRU beat Missouri in the first match of the day, 27-22. ERRFU defeated HOA in the second. Then both of the afternoon matches ended in a draw. TRU v ERRFU tied 0-0. It was a good match, with a powerful defensive showing from both teams. There's a great write up at Your Scrumhalf Connection, with pictures, also by Shalay.

note to self

Note to self: Refrain from wearing that mascara if working out mid-day. No one will tell you you look like a racoon, merely laugh at you behind your back.

success

It worked! I finally got a conventional PCR to work! Everyone I worked with in the lab as an undergrad would be shocked. And I might actually get to keep my job after all.