Power Snatches and the Consultant Issue Continues

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We worked on our power snatches…still difficult technically…still at 5 x 2 at 45 lbs.

WOD:
9-15-21
Over the box jumps (hop on and then hop off to the other side, 20 inches)
Front squats (60 lbs…5 more lbs than usual. Sheesh, who knew that 5 lbs would make a difference?)
Time: 8:32

Today is the last day in the office before the 4-day weekend. I had some data to check and an article to turn in for our quarterly magazine. I normally would switch my telework day from tomorrow to today since the big boss was so nice to give us tomorrow off without having to use any vacation time, BUT there's free breakfast hosted by one of the departments and meeting leftovers for lunch (Chipotle). I can't miss out on that. There was also an ice cream social in the lobby, but my stomach opted for the Chipotle leftovers.

Well, unfortunately my email from yesterday didn't work because the attachments that the consultant replied with don't make sense either. The initial issue was that I didn't have anything to compare his data in his final report to. And now the issue is that the data in the two documents he sent as a reply to my email don't match either. I don't understand what the problem is. The director called me this afternoon, and before she could get too far into her freak out session, I told her basically "Nope, I'm not going to write another email about how we are confused about the data. I've done it so many times already. My ability to be tactful has expired. I'm tapping out. Your turn. You fix this." I'm wondering if it's even worth it to do another contract with him for FY17. We're obviously not communicating well.

Pull-ups and Consultant Issues

I woke up this morning with my upper body feeling sore, so I texted my sister and Maria that I’d shoot for the afternoon CrossFit session. Today's liquid lipstick: Sephora cream lip stain in Cherry Blossom. "On Wednesdays, we wear pink."- Mean Girls.

The rough start to the morning continued when I got to the office. I got a call from one of the directors this morning. Uh oh. She was NOT happy with the work that one of our consultants turned in. Oh boy. Ok. Imma let you finish. (Come onnn. I JUST sat down at my desk. I haven’t even eaten breakfast yet! Can I pencil in your freak out session in like 15 minutes?) I was asked to write a tactful email to the consultant, asking him to double check his work.

As promised, I did go to 5:15 PM CrossFit. Wow, quite the rowdy bunch, these afternoon class folks. Or maybe us morning class folks are still just trying to wake up at 6:30 AM? I dunno. ANYWAY, we worked on our pull-ups.

WOD: 12:00
400 m run
5 rounds of:
- 3 pull-ups (green and red bands)
- 7 push-ups (red band)
- 15 squats
400 m run
Max burpees for remaining time, and I was able to crank out 13 burpees.

One of the girls complimented me on my push-ups. "They looked great!" Thanks, heh, they didn't feel so great towards the end though.

One Year of CrossFit

I haven't done a before and after picture in a while, but I figured that today would be worthy of one.

6/26/2015: this is the day before my first CrossFit class at my gym.
6/28/2016: this was today after class. I can see a noticeable difference in my arms and in midsection, YAY YAY YAY!

It's kinda amazing what can happen in a year with a lot of sweat, teeth gritting and sometimes waking up before the sun comes up to get a workout in. Sure, the workouts are daunting sometimes, but the people at the gym (both members and coaches) are so supportive. No one judges anyone else for the weight they are lifting or what they look like. We are all a mess after the workout anyway. No makeup, no fancy clothes, completely sweaty, you get the picture. But there's a certain camaraderie that's built because we all know what that particular workout felt like and that we all survived it.

We worked on our back squats today…3 x 5 at 95 lbs. My 1 rep max a few months ago was 145 lbs. That seems so far away now, given my back injury that I suffered in March. Blah, slowly but surely, I'll get back there!

WOD:
800 m run
30 hanging knee raises
800 m run
30 sit-ups
Time: 12:50

My favorite cobb salad from Panera isn't on the menu anymore, so I got one that was similar. Ugh, no good. It's back to meal prepping tonight (chicken, sweet potatoes and cucumbers) because I don't want to be stuck eating food that doesn't really taste all that great, is a little expensive and made me feel gross afterwards. I need these instances every so often to remind myself that even though it takes some work, bringing lunch from home is always a better decision.

Brunch with Grad School Friends

Whoo hoo, thankfully, it’s rest day! After going to CrossFit 5x this past week, my legs were definitely feeling it this morning. And my shoulders. And my abs. You get the idea. I went to brunch with two of my friends from graduate school, Jessie and Jenny. I had the “walk of shame” breakfast burrito, and it was delicious!

Afterwards, I went to the nearby Target to wander around. I ended up with a new Captain America tank top, hee hee.

Garden Help and Baseball Hall of Fame Exhibit

Mom came over this morning after I came home from CrossFit to help me tackle the weeds and hedges outside my townhouse. I can barely keep up with the little garden that I have with two azalea bushes, I don't know how Mom manages to keep up with all the gardens she has in the front and back of the house. She has a green thumb, so I guess it's a matter of being interested in gardening makes a big difference. RJ supervised from the comfort of the air conditioning inside.

My parents and I went to a “friends and family” event that my sister invited us to. It was for the Baseball Hall of Fame traveling exhibit. They had a bunch of trailers set up with interactives and exhibits inside. She showed us the ones that she worked on, which was really cool. There was a trailer that had a giant interactive table that my sister worked on. The table had different stations so that multiple people could be at the table at once. There was a virtual reality trailer, so you could put the goggles on and spin around to see the baseball field, the players, etc.

New Cards, CrossFit and Spin

When the alarm went off this morning at 5:30 AM, my body was like NOPE! I looked at the WOD on my phone (lots of running and burpees). DOUBLE NOPE! And it was raining hard. NOPE NOPE NOPE. I will have a better attitude about it when it’s time to go to the 5:15 PM session. I owe my friend a text to confirm that I went. Hooray for accountability?

I enjoyed my day off and made some cards, something I hadn't done in a while. RJ was on bird patrol, and I was glowering at my battle bruises from Tuesday’s CrossFit session. I know it’s from the hang cleans this past Tuesday, but it’s weird that I don’t have a similar one on my left thigh.

When I was on my way to the 5:15 PM session, Maria texted me to see if I was ready to crush those burpees (see, accountability?). It’s the long workout day, eek. After some core work, the WOD was the following.

1 mile run
100 burpees
Max clean and jerks
Time cap: 20:00

I got through 60 burpees and time ran out. Whew! I there's only one person in each class that's been able to get to the clean and jerks. That's how I know it's a real challenge. I haven’t been to spin class in a week and I felt guilty about it, so after I caught my breath, I went to the 6:30 PM class. Go me! 

Pull-ups and New Birthday Card

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! Sigh. Not the best workout for me today. I didn’t sleep well last night because my brain just wouldn’t turn off. But at least I showed up this morning! We worked on our pull ups.

WOD: EMOM 5 hang power cleans. After the cleans, you had the rest of the minute to do box jumps.
Level A was to accumulate 100 box jumps. Level B was to accumulate 65 box jumps. I started out with 65 lbs, but had to go down to 55 lbs halfway through because of fatigue. I accumulated 59 box jumps (20 inches) (maybe it was 61? I couldn't read my own handwriting on the whiteboard I was using) in the 12:00 time cap. Grrr.

I figured ruminating over my performance during today and yesterday’s WODs wasn’t going to be a productive use of my time this evening. I had to snap out of the funk. I turned up some music, wrote a coach testimonial as requested by one of the co-owners of my CrossFit gym (I think it’s very important to give credit where credit is due!) and made a birthday card.

I'm definitely way too hard on myself. I think it's good to push myself, but I have to remember that if I go overboard, I will get injured and recovery totally sucks (as I found out when I hurt my back this past March). Having to scale workouts way back sucks. Pain sucks. There's always the next workout to do better.