Today is day 1

Today is day 1. I haven’t written in a long time, and certainly not with my old consistency but although I’m not going to make any promises that I will ever return to that rhythm… Today is day 1. New start to a new year, and a far cry from where I was, who I was, this time last year. Happiness has taken me a long time to figure out again. I mean, I was happy with bits and piece of my life, but not really happy with me. I think I’m finally getting there. Yuko has certainly helped. He’s taught me patience, trust, acceptance that things don’t always go as planned.  He’s also taught me to let my heart let something in again.  When I first decided to take on a puppy, that was a bit I kept to myself. I don’t think I was embarrassed by it, but more I knew how most could react to it. I wanted an animal in my life to teach me I could love again. An animal that would one day also teach me to deal with loss and the need to let go. The second part is the bit that most people are completely terrified of and also the part that had me so wrecked in the first place, but the amount of time I’ve had to really think during the hours upon hours of walks this summer have hopefully put my head in a place where I can come out stronger than before. Don’t get me wrong, saying goodbye to this little miracle I’ve raised will be tough! But this little miracle will go on to change someone else’s life too.

 

No selphys! – Yuko

So far, so good :)

Whole Life Challenge – First week DONE

so far, so good 🙂 notes from the week:

• I no longer think about gum every minute I’m awake
• I think I’m finally sleeping better after a rough first few days. Although this likely had nothing to do with the WLC and everything to do with work stress.
• Oatmeal is back in my life 🙂 it makes me feel a bit nauseous, but I’m not giving up. That will hopefully go away!
• I do still crave a chocolate chip cookie dough Quest bar pretty much daily, and I do still eat more watermelon than is likely recommended, but I haven’t caved to the first and I’m accepting the second. It will be out of season soon enough and I’ll have to move on…
• Made a whole chicken in the crockpot this week.  If you haven’t tried that, I recommend it highly! So good!! And easy too 😉
• pinterest has joined YouTube on the list of not pre-work activities. Friday I went looking for something to do with the 4 zucchini in my fridge and after 20 minutes pulled myself away with 100 treat ideas swimming through my head, 3 DIY ideas for my condo, and nearly convinced I need to work on my muffin top. I was almost late for work, and I have no new ideas for the zucchini.
• this week’s lifestyle challenge is 10 minutes of meditation. It started rough, but once I learned there are lots of guided meditation videos on YouTube, it got easier 🙂 What hasn’t gotten easier is 10 minutes of mobilization. Especially when I don’t get it in at the box! As soon as I lay on the floor at home, Yuko wants to help. Ever tried stretching with a dog sneaking up to lick your face every chance he got? My favourite moment was the attempt to turn away is when I realized he was standing on my hair! Well played Yuko 😉

View from the floor

I’ve come to terms

Ok, I’m officially tired of being hungry all the time.  I can’t be alone here.  This week I’ve spent 3% of my time sweating my tail off at the box, another 5% trail walking or running with Yuko, 33% working, 27% sleeping and about 99% of the not sleeping time HUNGRY.  It’s stupid.  I’m not on a restrictive diet or cleanse.  I’m not eating crap.  Just always hungry.  This being said, it’s potentially about to get a lot worse.  Why?  Cause seeing as I’m clearly in calculation mode today, I came to the realization that my love affair with Kraft All Natural peanut butter is not helping me fit into my fall-is-coming clothing.  I love it so much… but pack your things PB, we’re through.  Note- if you’re wondering how the hell I got into eating this shit, there was possibly some moment of starvation where I realized the all natural PB I was buying to stuff Yuko’s Kong toys with wouldn’t kill me to have a little… Shit rolled down hill.  Fast.

Saturdays are non-WOD days typically for me, so Yuko and I headed to the trail for a short run this morning 🙂  It was bright and quite cool at 7:15am and the trail was empty.  Perfect 🙂

Post WOD yesterday when the group headed out for our little 1 mile flush, I was pleasantly surprised to notice how easy the uphill trot to Northfield felt.  My hill runs are paying off 🙂  The pooped out puppy currently napping at my feet would suggest they are paying off for him as well.  Actually, a customer made a comment the other day that hurt my heart a little.  “He looks so bored!” he mentioned when noticing the cute bundle of fur curled up and napping beside my behind the sales counter.  “He’s not bored, he gets a LOT of exercise!  He’s just tired” was my response.  It’s true!  I also asked the customer if he had a dog.  When he said yes, I asked where he was… “at home.” was his response.  And my dog is bored?  Another of the things this experience has taught me – people often don’t really think before they speak.

Tomorrow is the MS Bike Tour in Niagara.  The 75km trek I participated in for several years, but haven’t in a few.  The reminder emails I’ve received this week have brought back a bunch of memories 🙂  There was the time I felt like a total badass after passing a whole line of cycling club riders only to have the whole line return the favour a few minutes later by bowing past us like we were standing still.  Or the dude saying “I hope you girls are ready for the big hill ahead!” referring to the bump in the road to get up on the overpass.  Aparently he didn’t notice we were on mountain bikes.  LOL!  While I have no question in my mind of whether or not I could still do the ride (even though I haven’t so much as sat on my bike once this year!) it’s just not something I have any interest in doing anymore.  You know when you do something as much to share the experience with someone else as to experience it yourself?  This was one of those things, but the memories will last a life time.

 

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Right??  The last point killed me.  LOL

This week has been the first time that I can remember that I’ve just not enjoyed most of the WODs.  I mean, they’ve been a good workout, very metcon-ish.  Suck it up buttercup, I know.  I just miss a heavy barbell :p  Today I was working alongside a friend who I often partner WOD with lately.  In I think the middle of round 4 I heard a subtle “I hate my life right now…” from her direction.  That was one of those moments where I realize I’m not alone 😉

Fri. Aug. 21:

Five rounds for time of:
50 Feet- Overhead Walking Lunges #45/#35
21- Burpees

Time – 12 something.

My shoulders were screaming the whole way through this.  Yesterday had dumbbell shoulder assassination, so I wasn’t totally surprised.  Hope I wasn’t the only person who feared they might face plant the first rep of burpees like every round.  Post-WOD a bunch of us went for a nice little mile run to flush out the legs 🙂  Wonder pup came along.  He’s become the greatest running buddy.  Cross your fingers he gets into the breeding program and stays with me please!

My favourite this week for sure was Hero Tuesday 🙂  I lapped Coach Sharon by an entire round!  She still blames the fact that she let me park my bar in front of the fan (possibly true), but I’ll take it as a huge WIN anyways!

Tues. Aug. 18:

“Wittman”

Seven rounds for time of:
15- Kettlebell Swings
15- Power Cleans #95
15- Box Jumps

Time – 18:50 Rx

whatever works

Sometimes I get a strange look when the answer to the question “So, what are you doing tonight?” is along the lines of “Like, after 9:30?  Sleeping!”.  Maybe I should follow this with the question “So, what were YOU doing at 5:00 this morning?”  Put things in perspective a little.  No, I’m not an 80-year-old, my life just exists in a different time zone than the majority of the population.  Today looks like this:

5:00am Out of bed.  Coffee, food prep and puppy cuddle time.  The intention was 5:30, but I’m preprogrammed.

7:00am Hike with Yuko.  5.5km of beautiful rolling hills with the wonder-pup.

9:30am Crossfit. 

Teams of 2:
Row 1000 meters
80 Box Jumps
60 Kettlebell Swings
40 Hang Cleans   #85/#75
40 Toes to Bar
60 Burpees
80 Shoulder to Overhead   #75/#65
Time – 30:00+ (I think!)

Today was a sweaty mess.  Like, the kind of day where despite the polar-dip-style shower after, I still sweat profusely for the next hour.  Started too heavy on both the barbell movements and made the team decision to shave weight off.

11:00am Work.  No comment.  It pays for everything else.

6:00pm Ball Hockey.  Fully expect this to be another total sweat-fest.  Especially knowing we will be short players tonight and it’s 4,000 degrees outside.

9:00pm (ish) Home.  My days can be marathons, so YES.  I will likely be in bed before 10:00pm, but that works just fine for me 🙂

Hustle!

I may have discovered the secret to hitting a new PR for fastest mile run. Took the dog for a run this morning, despite the weather geeks calling for rain and regardless of the dark ish clouds. Ran nearly to the 2km mark when the skies absolutely opened. Pretty sure Yuko and I stopped dead, stared at each other for a second, then turned around and sprinted. My first thought was – just run till the tree cover blocked some of the down pour. But there was thunder too so at some point the plan changed to just get your ass back to the car! Fastest mile I’m quite certain. Uphill most of the way too! My run coach was happy to pick up the pace too! Loves to swim, but doesn’t really like to be wet. And I call him my run coach, cause he’s happiest running with a stick in his mouth. If I slow down sometimes I get the stick across the back of my ankles. “Pick it up slacker!” – Yuko.

Jam session

Yuko’s favourite song

I can’t post videos, so this is the best I’ve got for you 🙂  although he’s recently decided it’s cool to bark like a lunatic in the middle of a WOD sometimes, Yuko is generally super-quiet. Until last week when “Prayer in C” came on in the car and this singing ritual started. Scared the sh*t out of me at first, then I thought it was a fluke… Wrong!  This is his jam! Sings away every time it comes on!  Weird, but funny none the less lol

AND — I did 12 handstand push-ups today!!  Not all in a row, but still!!  boo-ya

Tues. June 9:

2 Rounds for Time:
25- Box Jumps
20- Chest to Bar Pull-Ups  scaled
15- Strict Handstand Push-Ups  8 wall walks / 12 HSPU (kipped)
10- Squat Snatches #135/#95   #60

Time – 14:22

My brain decided to join the party this morning 🙂  Maybe 6:00am is where it’s at if I’m hoping to snatch well.  Granted, the weight was light, but most of the reps felt really good.  Coach Sharon may have appreciated that there was no need for the typical “OPEN your HIPS McDowell!!” shouts this morning.  The hardest part of this little chipper was standing up out of the squat snatch in the 2nd round!  My legs whispered “rest day tomorrow??”

is that even a thing?

New 3 rep MAX today for deadlift 😀  Is that even a thing??  Well, I’m happy so let’s go with it!  I was inspired after reading a fellow blogger’s post about a deadlift competition and got to the box all pumped up.

Fri. May 8:

Part 1. Squat Cleans + Jerks Complex
3 Sets: 3- Squat Cleans + 1- Jerk   #85/#95/#105
* Increase load after each set

Part 2. Deadlifts – work up to HEAVY set of 3  #225
drop the load by 10-15% and REP OUT

Part 3. In teams of 2 – 2000m Row
Partner 1 – row for 60 seconds
Partner 2 – MAX effort Double Unders

Score for Part 3 = Total DU = 125

That’s right, after my NEW PR 3RM for the deadlift, I skipped the rep out portion.  But… I DID contribute to the 125 DU!  Like maybe 25, but for me that’s huge!  I also succeeded with the clean and jerk portion today 🙂  Fridays are great.

After I got home from the WOD and chowed down my breakfast, I figured 2 hours before work was plenty of time to take Yuko with his new bling (rabies tag) to the off leash park to burn off a little puppy spunk before heading to Henry’s.  He met some friends and played for a while until we wandered over to the watering bowl.  My off-white little rock star decided the best way to cool down after all his running was to plop himself right down in the muddy waters surrounding the bowl.  Shiiiiiiiit!  After an improv water bottle rinse in the parking lot we made our way home for a better pre-work clean up.  Ah, parenthood 😉

That’s the moment before things got messy.  I didn’t get an after pic, probably because my jaw dropped and I stood in disbelief for a minute before luring him out with a treat.

6am Wednesday the running crew met at mt. Trashmore for a little hill running/lunging/bear crawling session.  It was super-fun and Yuko spent the whole time off leash running around and pretty much following me everywhere.  It’s tough to bear crawl up a steep hill with a dog winding figure-8s under your head and torso, but by the time I got to the top I had laughed so much my sides hurt a little 🙂

Wed. May 6:

Teams of 2:
40- Burpee Box Jump (20″)
30- Snatches (155/105)  #65
40- Burpee Box Jump (20″)
30- Clean and Jerks (155/105)   #75
40- Burpee Box Jump (20″)
30- Thrusters (155/105)   #75
*Share reps as needed

That’s right, I made it to a Wednesday WOD.  I mean, I had the day off cause Yuko had his 2nd puppy class AND this one sounded totally right up my alley.  Decided Thursday I could rest.  These decisions always seem like good ones at the time…  Anyways, making it to a Wednesday WOD means selecting a time slot that’s out of my morning comfort zone.  Got to the 4:30 and at times thought the sweltering heat might kill me.  Ok, I wasn’t really sweltering, but winter wasn’t so long ago and I’m not ready for this yet.  Box jumped for the first 20ish then my depth perception went all fucky and I nearly ate it.  Step ups will do.  My snatches weren’t pretty.  “Don’t be afraid to squat ’em!” Coach Dave yelled at one point but I WAS afraid to squat!  My legs remembered the morning hill sesh.  And thrusters were coming…