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!

300

Finding 300 reasons that my doing the Spartan Challenge, which starts in just over a week, is absolutely insane would not be particularly difficult. Much less difficult than actually completing it. This thing terrifies me, specifically the benchmark workout. Last year's video. Feel free to pause that at 34 seconds in where it lists the workout. This, my friend, makes the I Am Crossfit workout look like a short stroll to the gelato shop.

BUT I am not focusing on this. I am not focusing on the fact that I still can't do a pullup, that I hate box jumps or that just watching those floor wipers makes we want to cry. Instead I'm focusing on the fact that while it will kick my ass it can only make me better. Stronger. And hey, look, a kettlebell portion! I can do that...hell, if I can keep running and rucking and tackling during the 79th minute of a rugby match, I can do all of this. Because I Am CrossFit.

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.

This Made Me Smile

Bored at work I started browsing through the craigslist.org missed connections. After a while sorting through the stupid ones gets tedious, so I start searching places I frequent. This came up:

To all the girls in my Crossfit class - m4w (Crossfit Central!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: Date: 2009-02-11, 4:28PM CST


Keep it up! You all look
great! Thanks for making it the best 45 minutes of my day!

Obviously I have no idea who this is or even which class it may refer to, the truth is it's true about all of us. And made me smile.

Hey, that's me!

Crossfit Central filmed our kettlebell class last week and interviewed a few of us. My entire interview was the vocal intro to the video, which is very cool. I always feel awkward with a camera around - I know what kind of faces I make when I work out. That makes being a CrossFitter interesting, as there are quite often cameras around. The video workout, by the by, totally kicked my ass.


Old School Training from CrossFit Central on Vimeo.

Lego Brilliance

I didn't think Eddie Izzard could possibly get any funnier, but someone has managed it brilliantly. No flag, No Country!

Just a Note

I got nothing these days, except to say,"Damn, I hope I look this good if I ever get myself knocked up."

Way to go, Heather.

stickers

Today I clicked on the red link at the top of the page of my Gmail account. You know, the one which so often leads to fun and exciting news? Well today's, in addition to the new functions of labels (which is cool enough on it's own) was an announcement about stickers. Free stickers! How cool can Google get? All you have to do is send them a self addressed, stamped envelope via snail mail and you'll get some shiny stickers in the mail. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find a couple of envelopes...

Ecstatic

Just home from our first rugby practice of the season. After a dynamic warm up we basically spent over an hour and a half sprinting, interspersed with core exercises in payment for dropped balls and short lectures about the drills. My hip flexors HATE me right now, but I am absolutely ecstatic to be playing rugby again. We all are. You could absolutely feel it, especially after practice as we all dispersed. Tonight promised to be cold and wet, but turned out to be just cool enough with nice soft ground. Rare conditions for Texas.

And it's crazy, but I can tell my fitness has improved since November. Or maybe it's my motivation and core strength that are better. And maybe the dieting is helping, or maybe it's just got me eating better. Who knows, but I'm totally excited for the 2009 season!

Sore

Yesterday's workout was tough.

AMRAP, 20 Minutes, 16 kg KB:

kettlebell clean and press 6 right/6 left
40 yard sprint x2
kettlebell snatch into an overhead squat 5R/5L
American swing with a lateral step 10R/10L

I finished four rounds in just over the 20 minutes. I felt like I'd really accomplished something after finishing, but it was definitely tough. And my body is telling me ALL about it today. My shoulders, my quads, my thighs... Chris, my coach, commented that he could tell the Zone dieting was making a difference, which was cool to hear especially since my attempt fails as much as it succeeds.