One Year's Worth of Progress

I took the picture below a year ago today, February 7, 2015. All I could think of was "That's it. No more." I took the second picture first thing this morning before going to spin class. I'd like to think of it as "before" and "in progress" pictures.

 

Considering I didn't start seriously lifting until July 1, I'm really proud of myself for the progress I've made. I don't think it'd be proper to post these two pictures without mentioning what has transpired between the two pictures.

• Lots and lots of sweating, grunting, grimacing, exhales of exhaustion, soreness, etc.
• Not being able to make it through a full set, reracking or putting the weight down, stamping down on self doubt, taking a deep breath and trying again. 
• Waking up at 5:30 AM to go to CrossFit several times a week. Sometimes there would be two-a-days: spin and Crush60 or spin and CrossFit.
• Doing exercises that I had never done before with people I've never met before. Well, it turns out that nothing builds camaraderie like a really intense Leg Day or WOD.
• Discovering that I have physical strength that I never knew I had in me, i.e. I can lift 100 lbs over my head and sumo deadlift and regular deadlift more than my bodyweight.
• Revisiting clothes that hadn't fit before because they were too tight, but now they don't fit quite right because they are too loose.
• Building the confidence to try something different with my work look every once in a while: curling my hair, dramatic eye makeup, dark lipstick, etc. 

Thanks to everyone that has sent an encouraging message (text, email, comment, etc.)! I appreciate the love and support!

I can't wait to revisit this post in 2017.  :)

Day 44, Holiday Card Making and Zoolights

The person in front of me at the gym got the last 8:30 AM spin class ticket. At first, I was like "Grrr..." but it actually worked to my advantage because I forced myself to stay to do Day 44 of Crush 60 (all cardio) while I waited for the 9:30 AM class.  The 9:30 class is also an hour (as opposed to 45 minutes), so I burned more calories. :)

The afternoon was focused on making holiday cards. I found these pre-made holiday card bases in my stash...ah, perfect! I used the squirrel stamp that I bought a few weeks ago and ta-da...holiday cards! I think the gold embossing adds a nice holiday touch.

I caught up with Robyn at Zoolights tonight. We had both been sick this past week, so I'm pretty sure she was ready to get out of the house as much as I was! I was actually a little shocked to see how many people were at the zoo. It's a school night! Go to bed!  Ha ha. Since she’s a member of the zoo, we got free tickets to the carousel and tubing hill. We had to wait several turns to get on the carousel, but that worked out fine because we could scope out which animals we wanted to get. I felt like the oldest non-parent people there, hah. Robyn ended up with the cloud leopard and I got the red panda. There was a kid in front of me with his mouth on the guardrail and his mom scolded him several times. EWW!  I hope he has a strong immune system. The zoo also had a light show outside the elephant house, which I think is a new thing. That was pretty cool to see.

Fun times!

Day 43: Chest and Triceps

I'm not sure what happened last night, but I didn't sleep well due to some crazy dreams. I don't remember all of them, but the last one I had before I woke up this morning was me being really late getting to the airport. I woke up before I found out if I actually made it. Ahh, the suspense. I was in quite a funk for most of the day. CrushFit was doing a Black Friday deal where the e-books were all 50% off and any apparel purchase came with a free e-book. I saw people left and right on social media making purchases, and it was nice to see everyone so excited to get started. Some people even said that they had wanted to purchase the program, but the cost was more than they could afford, but this deal really helped them out. I thought it was nice of the brand to offer such a deal so that more people could participate.

Seeing all that positivity online made me get up off the couch and go to the gym. What better time to start Phase 3 of Crush60 than the day after Thanksgiving! Oh, goodie. Tabata push-ups. My favorite. Day 43, check!

Shoulders and Office Card Order

I managed to make my way to 8:30 AM spin class this morning. With the colder weather these days, it's getting more difficult to get out of my warm bed! The guy that usually has the bike next to mine was sitting a bike behind that one. Uh, that's weird because no one was sitting in his usual bike. I asked him what was going on. It turns out that he didn't have his spinning shoes and his usual bike didn't have the straps for regular shoes. Oh. I think it's funny that we all have our own bikes. We're just creatures of habit.

Afterwards, I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond in search for an outdoor doormat, but I didn't find one that I liked. I did find a peacock one that was pretty, but I didn't like enough to buy it. The search continues. I then went next door to Michaels where I got a new stamp. I like that it's not holiday specific so it'll be great for this year's holiday cards.

I went home and...feel asleep.  Heh.  But I did wake up and make my way to the gym to do Crush60, Day 42: Shoulders. This was the last workout for Phase 2. Onward to Phase 3...here we go!

This evening's goal was to do some laundry and work on my coworker's card order. Some cards I already had made because of yesterday's craft fair, but things like "anniversary card- go all out" and "birthday card with Greek columns," I had to put my creative thinking hat on. I hope he likes what I came up with!

Day 41: Performance

I made it to 8:30 AM spin class and did some grocery shopping nearby. When I got home, I had plans to figure out what to make for food for the week, but the bed was more inviting and I ended up going back to bed for a few hours. Ah, it was nice. I woke up, put on a new gym shirt and went to do Crush60, Day 41: Performance. I have one more workout left in Phase 2. Yay, almost the home stretch.

Spinning, Lifting and Crafting

8:30 AM spin class, check!

Crush60, Day 40: Back, check! It was nice weather outside, so after the gym, I walked around the outdoor shopping mall and walked into New York & Company, DSW and Ulta to look around.

I came home, showered, and took a 2-hour nap. That workout was tough...especially with the hyperextensions at the end. I woke up and it was dark outside, which is a little jarring. Ahh, what time is it?! Oh, 6:00 PM?  Whew, ok, we're good. I worked on some holiday cards, specifically Christmas tree ones for the upcoming holiday craft show. I'd say it's been a productive day! It's going to be a busy week ahead though because I have to be in Atlanta Wednesday-Friday.

Back Squat PR and Progress Pictures

Left: June 29, 2015. Pre-Crush60. I purchased the program the night before, and this picture was taken after I had gone to the gym and ventured over to the weights section for the first time to figure out where everything was. Day 1’s workout was completed on July 1.

(Flash forward a few months. I joined my sister’s CrossFit gym along the way.)

Right: This morning, November 3, 2015. It’s test week at the CrossFit gym, and I PRed my back squat at 135 lbs (1RM). Considering I was working with 90 lbs last week, I’m feeling pretty good about it. I was hoping for bodyweight so that I could get my name on the whiteboard, but I'd rather not injure myself. I’m almost done with Phase 2 of Crush60 (Day 39 was this past Sunday).
In other news, I had 5 teleconferences scheduled today, 12-5 PM. My boss was nice enough to let me telework because otherwise, I'd be taking up a conference room for basically half the day. One of the calls got cancelled, which was a relief!

Today was National Sandwich Day and in honor of that "holiday," Subway was doing a buy one, get one free deal. I, of course, took advantage of it and gave Julie the free sandwich. As I was walking around the mall, well, specifically JCPenney, they didn't waste any time putting up the holiday decorations! (eye roll)

After dinner, I finally gave in and dyed my hair and watched The Aristocats on Netflix, sitting on the bathroom floor while waiting for the dye to process. Darn greys. Heh.

Inferno Day

I posted my Halloween look on Facebook yesterday and it was so positively received. Should I tell them that all I know about applying makeup came from YouTube?  Hah.

Anywhoo, I started off the day with going to 8:30 AM spin class and then going to the grocery store next door to get some stuff to make a batch of the one pot beef stroganoff recipe I found on Budget Bytes. Yum yum yum!

I went to the other gym location earlier this evening to crank out Crush60, Day 39: Inferno. A few observations: a) I'm not sure where the rowers went.  Did the ghosts and goblins take them away?  What gives? b) The town didn't waste any time putting the holiday wreaths up on the light posts. Halloween was only yesterday, folks! c) Those burpees were killer (4 sets of 10), especially since I did 62 yesterday at CrossFit!

Chest Day, Pumpkin Pancakes and New Card

I haven't worked out since last Monday because of my cold, but since I was feeling better today, I decided to get things back to normal by going to the gym. I did Crush60's Day 38: Chest workout, and surely enough, those Tabata push-ups at the end just about killed me. Sweat, shaky arms, the whole nine yards. But, hey, at least it's done! I've reserved my spot for tomorrow's CrossFit class...I'm ready, let's go!

I had half can of pumpkin in the refrigerator leftover from when I made pumpkin macaroni and cheese last Monday, and I didn't want it to go to waste so I made a bunch of pumpkin pancakes. Yum!
My friend, Kara, at work is leaving at the end of the week. Her summer internship asked her if she wanted to take a librarian job at the organization, and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I offered to make a card for everyone to sign. Her boss suggested a book/librarian themed card, and I couldn't think of what to do with that so I went with what I know best: origami. She has a white cat named Yeti so I made him the focus of the card.

Sick Day

Yeahhh...there was no way I was going to make it to the office today. And I didn't really have the energy do to any meaningful work even if I teleworked. Fortunately, I had stuff under control, so I sent off a sick day request and a few emails first thing this morning and then went back to bed.

This is the second day in a row that I haven't been able to make it to CrossFit. While waking up at 5:30 AM can be grueling, it sucks even more to not be able to go. It's just become part of my routine. I hope I'm feeling better enough to go to an afternoon class tomorrow and at the very least, telework tomorrow.

On a brighter note:

• I was able to sell one of my dresses on Ebay today and an origami panda birthday card on Etsy yesterday. :)
• The updated Crush60 program was released today, complete with a new layout, illustrations and accompanying videos. I can't wait to put it to use once I get over this cold!
• I'm so glad that Arrow is back on. What a great episode tonight...not that I would expect anything less.

Gym Time and Pancakes

The residual bad mood from last night's events bled through to this morning, but instead of staying in bed in a funk, I went to the gym for the 8:30 AM spin class. Truth be told, I did go back to bed after class because I didn't feel like last night's sleep was all that restful. I did get my butt out of bed to go to the other gym location for Day 37: Leg Day. I was really lacking in motivation, but I told myself that if I could make it through the workout, I could go to the Thai restaurant nearby to get some pad thai for dinner. Surely enough, one rep at a time, I got through it. For the most part, I was the only woman in weights section and it felt empowering. You want to watch me squat and deadlift in my colorful tights? Fine. Look, but don't touch.
In an effort to procrastinate thinking about what fall-inspired food item to bring to the office potluck on Tuesday, I searched for pancake recipes instead. I found this one from Martha Stewart (Recipe #6 of 2015). I think this is the first time I've made pancakes myself, if you can believe that. Heh. Pancakes for second dinner!

I ate half of these and saved the rest for tomorrow :)

New Clothes, New Card and Arm Day

I didn't make it to spin class this morning...blah. The bed was too nice and warm! Once I got moving, I ate breakfast and went to the gym for Crush60 Day 36: Arm Day. Ugh, grueling. After your arms feel like jello, then you have a 30 minute max incline walk to look forward to. So everything feels like jello!

In other news, I made a card for Page on Friday night.

New owl earrings from Target.	New tops I bought yesterday from NY & Co.

More Pope Coverage and Performance Day

Honestly, most of today was spent on the couch. I can't tear my eyes away from all the Pope coverage. I don't know if it's because my hormones are out of whack because my period's coming up or what, but there were several times during the World Meeting of Families coverage last night that I actually started to tear up. I couldn't stop smiling when I saw all the babies that he kissed during the parade prior to getting to the stage. And I really liked his speech about families, punctuated by some humor. I hope he comes to visit again soon. We could really use his positive energy around here more often.

I finally got off the couch around 6:30 PM and marched myself to the gym for Day 35: Performance. Lots of cardio work and sweat, which was exactly what I needed after being a couch potato all day.

Arm Workout and Baby Shower

Day 34: Arms, done! This workout takes what seems like forever! You have the weightlifting part, but then a 30 minute max incline walk is tacked on at the end. Your arms will already feel like jello. You might as well have some jello legs to match.

This afternoon's activity was going to my friend Jessie's baby shower. Jenny was there as well as some people I recognized from some of Jessie's middle school career panels. We had our choice of fajitas, played some baby shower games and had some fantastic pineapple cake (it was like 2 layers of yellow cake with a pineapple bit layer in the middle). YUM!

Day 33: Shoulders

I didn't make it to spin class this morning (Zzzz...).  I debated making today a rest day, but then I remembered that I'm in an all day meeting tomorrow, one that I have to go to the office early to set up and also go to dinner with the members after the meeting is over, not to mention serve as the primary note taker. Tomorrow can be my rest day. I did make it to the gym for Day 33: Shoulders though.

Poor Julie. Her work sent her back to San Francisco. She only came back on Tuesday and is currently on a plane to go back. :P

Crush60: Day 31

I'm so ready for coworkers on my side of the office to come back from their week long meeting. It's too quiet. Not that I'll be able to hang out with them next week, or at least Monday and Tuesday, because I was asked to be a notetaker for an in-person committee meeting. Sigh. -_- It's tough to take notes for a meeting that's not your committee on stuff you don't even work on. Like you actually have to pay attention.

At least they'll feed me.

I bolted to the gym to do Day 31's workout, which involved lots of sweating (nothing new) and cardio. I was hoping that I could go home and feed RJ in time to go to the other gym for spin class, but the traffic was really backed up. Meh, at least I got a workout in!

Head boop = cat equivalent to a fist bump.

Crushing Self Doubt and Legs (Day 32)

That nagging voice of self doubt seeped into my head last night as I revisited the feelings that I was having at the end of yesterday's workout.

Why are these push-ups so hard? Sh*t, I'm doing them on my knees and they are still hard. OMG, my arms are literally shaking.

Don'tfaceplantDon'tfaceplantDon'tfaceplant.

It had been a while since I took some progress pictures, so that was the first thing that I did this morning. After scanning through the other pictures on my phone, I felt better. Perspective was something I really needed this morning.

That horrible evil nagging voice can go kick rocks. The mind is a powerful thing, so I think it's important that you say kind things to yourself.

June 29, 2015	September 7, 2015
A calf muscle, yay!	Let's cuddle! No, I don't mind that you're sweaty from the gym. Your boobs make a nice pillow. Kthx.

I went to the gym to do Day 32's workout (Legs). I'll backtrack and do Day 31 tomorrow, hopefully after work.

Other wins for today:

• Made a batch of sweet potatoes and butter chicken
• Cut up the 2 lb container of strawberries I bought from Costco the other day
• Washed 2 loads of laundry
•  Scrubbed down the bathroom

Day 30: Chest

I went to bed last night with a pounding headache. It was tough to fall asleep and when the alarm went off for me to go to spin class this morning, I said "no, thanks!" and went back to sleep. My quads were sore from yesterday's CrossFit session anyway.

After a few more hours of sleep and breakfast, I went to the gym for Day 30: Chest. OMG, those tabata push-ups at the end are so hard! They didn't get any easier than the last time. But that aside, I'm at the halfway mark! This is SO exciting! After the gym, I did some grocery shopping and then went home to shower and take a nice nap. Now I'm vegging in front of the TV.  Yay for no work tomorrow! :D

Work Day Victories, Day 29 and Spin Class

I have 3 surveys in the queue at work.  I was able to send out one today and 10 people already responded to it! Maybe I won't have to pull any teeth to get some feedback! Another one will be sent out next week. The third one will have to wait until my boss gets back, but it doesn't really have to get sent out until later on this month. Even if I did it in October, that would be fine too.

I managed to get my butt to the gym after work to do Day 29: Back. I was still a little sore from all the pushups I did at CrossFit yesterday, but I pushed through it. I had to do some of the exercises out of order because of the growing crowd. There was a towel placed on the pec deck, so I thought it was being used. I circled around a few times and then I realized that the towel and water bottle belonged to the lady using the leg press 5 feet away.  Hell-o?! What are you doing taking up 2 machines at once. Unless you're Gumby, I assure you you can only use one machine at a time. -_- Oh well, what matters is that I finished the workout in time to go home to feed RJ and head over to the other gym for spin class. I'm not sure what happened to the speakers in the room, but the songs sounded weird tonight. It was as if one of the speakers wasn't working so you could only hear the beat of the sound by the singing would be very faint.

Currently listening to Justin Bieber's "What Do You Mean" (shhh, no laughing!) and Carly Rae Jepsen's "Run Away With Me."

I'm so looking forward to my telework and rest-from-the-gym day tomorrow!

Summer 2015 Reflection

Now that’s it’s September 1st…hang on, let me flip the calendar page to acknowledge that it’s true…I wanted to sit down, reflect and document what has transpired over the past three months. It’s been an eventful summer, and eventful in a sense that I did 3 things that I’ve been wanting to do, but have been afraid to do them.

1. I ventured into the weights section of the gym. I’ve been spinning for 7 years and slowly got into doing weights at home at the beginning of 2015. I went to Tumblr for inspiration and ideas for ways to switch up my workout routine. On June 28, I bought Crush60 after weeks of hesitating. On July 1, I marched myself to that section of the gym and did Day 1’s workout. I finished Day 28 last Friday, so whew, almost halfway there.

2. In addition to the regular gym, I started going to a CrossFit gym, as encouraged by my sister. I went from “No, thanks, maybe next time” (a nice way of saying “No freakin’ way in hell!”) to mustering the energy to go a few times a week, sometimes for the 6:30 AM session, as I did today and yesterday. It’s tough to not feel energized when the coach is yelling “You can do it. Come on, Tina! Come on, sisters!” 

3. I got my nose pierced. Sorry, not sorry, Mom.

I think what these things have in common is that I had to summon 20 seconds of courage (long enough for a few deeps breaths) and just show up. There are people on the sidelines on the internet and IRL who will push me along the way. Has it been easy? Hell NO. Were there times that I thought I could not do another side raise/bicep curl/burpee/tuck-up/wall ball/(insert exercise of choice here)? YES. With all those feelings of exhaustion and occasional self-doubt aside, I’ve seen a positive change in how I feel about myself and that’s so rewarding!

I’m excited to see what the next 3 months bring. On the to-do list so far are to finish Crush60 and attend my 10-year college reunion (?!).

P.S. I made it to the 6:30 AM CrossFit session today.  Good news: I sumo deadlifted 105 lbs this morning, so new PR, woot!  The timed workout was 800 m run, 35 tuckups and then another 800 m run. I had to switch to regular sit-ups halfway through and felt like a turtle that couldn't get up.