Chasing Iron
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  • February22nd

    4 Comments

    the workout that broke me…

    Posted in: body gone badass challenge, crossfit, crossfiteastdecatur, motivation, paleo

    I can count on two hands the number of workouts that have completely broken me. Maybe that’s a bad thing. I mean, maybe the point of every workout is to push you harder than before? And many of my workouts have done that. I mean, most often, I have a sense of accomplishment and pride about what I’ve just done. But there are a small percentage that have literally left me in a puddle, completely broken, angry and defeated. The WOD that did that to me last week was the following –

    For time:
    21 Mankillers* (a burpee done with 2 DBs, a pushup, then a clean and push press at the end)
    28 Plank Rows*
    35 Thrusters*
    42 Suitcase Deadlifts*
    49 Step-Ups*

    *Each move is to be done with dumbbells. Only one pair of dumbbells is to be used for the entire workout. In my case, I used 20# DBs.

    Looking at it, it doesn’t sound that bad. I mean, there are scary workouts in every genre, and I have done other Crossfit WODs that were longer or more daunting (hell, I’ve run for hours and hours, ridden 125 miles, swam 5000m, pushed my body for 15+ hours in Ironman), nothing should break me, right (ha!)?

    This one stuck up on me and beat me up. Maybe because I’m in the midst of changing my diet for the long-term. Maybe because I’ve been dealing with lower back pain for the last few years (which has left me really tentative about anything that makes it hurt). Maybe because out of anything I’ve done, Crossfit has had the biggest learning curve. Whatever the combo was, I just crumbled. I finished the WOD (because quitting lasts forever), went home and got in the shower, and thought about that workout.

    What is it about the ones that have broken me? Tour de Cashiers, BOBBBR, Maui Marathon, ING Georgia Marathon, Ironman. I can unequivocally say that it was 30% physical, and 70% mental. All of those races and events were HARD. And Crossfit is HARD. When it’s just you and some dumbbells, you get a glimpse at where your head is. At where the challenge is. And at what you can accomplish. But it also shows you where the suck is. It doesn’t let you get comfortable with the things that might be a little easier. Because just when you start getting comfy, it kicks you in the face and you end up on the floor wondering how you got there in the first place….

    I like it.

  • February9th

    2 Comments

    that little devil…

    Posted in: body gone badass challenge, crossfit, food, inspiration, paleo, primal

    Day #3 of the BGB Challenge, and it’s getting better! Not gonna lie, I was super cranky on Monday and all I wanted was a Coke Zero (blasphemy, I know!) and some chocolate. But this time around, I’ve been focusing on planning ahead and packing meals and snacks, and that’s made it considerably better.

    All I thought about on Monday was the yummy dinner that my boo (yes, mushy pet names, but I’ll never use cuddlywuddlybear) had planned for dinner. Was it ever yummy, and the perfect kickoff to 8 weeks of paleo! Pan seared filet (medium-ish) with mushrooms and onions, a balsamic reduction and asparagus.

    Drooling on your keyboards? It was tasty!

    So all of this thinking about food (because that’s just how it goes the first few weeks, all you can think about is meal planning, shopping, etc..) has me pretty tuned into the ‘voices in my head’. Not the creepy, Sybil type voices, but the little angel and devil voices that sit on your shoulder. Being a part of a challenge, where you have to keep a food log and be 100% honest about what you’re eating, is a huge motivation (aka little angel). But then, there’s that little devil who likes to sit on the other shoulder and be a real jerk. Let’s take a few of the recent suggestions from ‘Jerk’.

    While walking into the Farmer’s Market to pick up more breakfast stuff…“You should have some bread samples, remember how yummy they are? And they’re just samples, they don’t count”.

    While driving home from work…“Dark chocolate sounds really good right now, how about just a small piece?”

    While at work…“You’re so tired, how about some caffeine? Drinks don’t really count…”

    Seriously dude? Screw you!

    I’ve been more in tune with these kinds of thoughts that keep popping up throughout the day, and I’m just blown away. And done. I’m done with the sabotage, done with the negative. Either get on the train dude, or take a hike. Because I’ve got work to do.

  • February8th

    3 Comments

    body gone badass…a challenge

    Posted in: atlanta, body gone badass challenge, crossfit, crossfiteastdecatur, food, paleo, primal, triathlon

    So, my Crossfit box (aka gym) is doing another 8 week challenge. Thank the little baby Jesus! I really enjoyed the challenge last time, but I also really enjoyed the last 2 months of indulging, and my pants are screaming for mercy. It’s time to get on the paleo-wagon, kids. Spring is right around the corner, which means ditching the sweats and wearing shorts!

    Since I was a part of the last challenge, it wasn’t so bad to prep for this one. I tossed out anything non-paleo (I really didn’t have much in the fridge, all of my “cheating” was eating out) and hit up the Farmer’s Market for fresh fruits, veggies and meats.

    We had our benchmark WOD (workout of the day) on Saturday, and it was called “Fight Gone Bad”. See me in the back, laying on the ground, gasping for air? Yah. It was a good fight.

    Fight Gone Bad translates to –

    In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. There are 3 rounds. The stations are:

    1. Wall-ball: 14 pound ball Women/8 pound scaled, 10 ft target. (Reps)
    2. Sumo deadlift high-pull: 55 lbs Women/35 pounds scaled (Reps)
    3. Box Jump: 20″ box (Reps)/step-ups scaled
    4. Push-press: 55 pounds Women/35 pounds scaled (Reps)
    5. Row: calories (Calories)

    The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. On call of “rotate,” the athlete must move to next station immediately for good score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

    We could choose from RX (prescribed weights above) or scaled. Since I’m still dealing with back pain, I went for the scaled version. I really wanted to go higher on the weights, but coach recommended it and I’m not going to do anything that’s going to get me injured. See, smart girl!

    The workout was SO.MUCH.FUN. I mean, seriously hard, but I really enjoyed pushing myself to see what a good benchmark is, and where I can improve. For me, it’s going to be a wall ball with every attempt (I missed a couple), and maintaining reps on the SDHP. Score for the benchmark? 231.

    I have a lot of goals for this challenge – I want to get an unassisted kipping pullup (basically, a pullup with a kipping swing to help you get above the bar), and I want to get full plank pushups. Body-wise, I want to get into several pairs of jeans in my closet. Good goals, I think!

    I plan on sharing more during the challenge this go ’round, I want you guys to see the difference that eating clean can make and maybe I can inspire you to try it out for a few days?

    In other news, my bike tires are completely flat and I think cupcake has given up on me. As soon as it gets a little warmer, I’m definitely going for a ride. I miss it so much! I’ve been contemplating whether or not I want to sign up for a race (tri) and I’m going to hold off for now. I have a strong pull that I’m doing CF now for a reason – to get stronger and healthier, and I should give it the attention it deserves. I definitely want to ride and run, but the pressure of any sort of training schedule just doesn’t sound fun right now. I love being able to show up at the gym and have a different workout every day. That feels more like playing, and less like work.

  • January18th

    4 Comments

    work it…

    Posted in: crossfit, food, paleo, triathlon

    A thousand blog posts in my head, so it’s time to get back to it. Let’s go with bullets, since there’s a lot to catch up on –

    - The Blog: I’ve been a busy girl! Check out the new digs (since I’m sure you are all reading via feeds)! It’s still a work in progress. I need to finish the masthead and add photos to the scroller, but I didn’t want that to hold up posting, so you get to look at pretty stock photos for now ;) The plan is to continue to share my triathlon/crossfit workouts, talk some paleo diet, food and travel. I might add a little bit of industry commentary in as well, since I’m more and more intrigued with the changes in social media. I’m working on my sidebar, so let me know if you’re a reader and want to be linked!

    - Crossfit: Awesome. Now that I’m working out more consistently at CF, I’m really noticing improvements and loving it more and more every day. People ask me about it all the time, and here’s what I think. Crossfit is HARD WORK. And that hard work is really really rewarding. There are workouts and/or movements that really piss me off, and I think that’s good. You become very aware of your body, your challenges and the obstacles that are getting in the way of being more fit. I’ve been working on double unders (jumping rope – the rope comes under your feet twice before they land) and pullups (we use stretchy bands for assistance, in varying widths, so I’m working my way down to less help). I’d like to have both of these this year. My other goal for CF? I want to see some WOD (workout of the day) pictures that I’m proud of. Coaches at our gym take pictures of the workouts every day and post them on the blog. I want some bad ass pictures.

    - Paleo: After following the challenge for 8 weeks and losing 14 lbs, I’m a huge fan of this lifestyle. I got off track over the holidays, but after seeing the difference in myself just after a few weeks, I’m ready to get back on the wagon. See above…I want the bod that comes with eating like a caveman ;)

    You know what else cavemen like? Fizzy water. My friends have this fancy soda maker that I’ve been coveting, so I’m ordering one! CSN Stores (the rockin peeps that sponsored my last giveaway) offered me a gift card towards my purchase, so I’m getting that instead of a swing set!!! Since the condo association would probably be angry if I put one on the front sidewalk.

    - Yoga: I said it. The girl with chronic chiro issues requires stretching. So I’m going to try it. And try not to laugh at how ridiculous I’ll feel. I need more body awareness in CF, and I think this will help.

    - Racing: I’m working on picking a few races for the year. Maybe a 5K/10K here and there to help get me back into shorter distance running, and potentially an Oly. Cupcake is very lonely in the corner of my new condo and I’m ready to get back out on the roads. Swimming? I’m not sure where my goggles are ;)

    - Travel: Just went to NYC and had an amazing time shopping and dining. I’ve really gotten into experiencing new restaurants and getting outside of my comfort zone (well, slowly). The most fun is ordering small plates and sharing with my date, because then you get to try several things and don’t have to commit to one choice. Score! I’m dreaming about where to go next…

    - Cooking: Shocking, I know. This girl used to cook solely with her toaster oven. Now I’m getting into new recipes and foods, and I LOVE IT. Maybe some cooking lessons?

    That’s it for now!

  • October18th

    5 Comments

    8 week crossfit challenge

    Posted in: caveman challenge, crossfit

    Back to blogging! I’ve moved over to WordPress and I’m still looking for the perfect custom theme, so hang tight while that stuff gets worked out and the blog starts looking a little more rockstar (most of you are probably using a reader, so it doesn’t really matter).

    So, I’ve been attending Crossfit on a pretty irregular schedule for the past 2 months. I say irregular because I generally make it once or twice a week. Mostly because I’m still healing my back and also because the location that I picked is pretty far from home. But when I do get there, I absolutely love it. So you can imagine that I’m pretty stoked to be moving about 2 minutes away from the box (CF term for the gym) in a few weeks. I’ve been pretty lazy since IM and I’m ready to get my head back into the game, which includes CF and getting my running endurance back (although much shorter distance for now).

    A couple of weeks ago, our gym announced an 8 Week Challenge. I was definitely interested, since I’ve been wanting to get more workouts in. And the other piece of the puzzle is that my jeans are getting tight from the post-Ironman blues (and my new love of Belgian beer). I went to the meeting to get more info and decided that I should just jump in with both feet.

    So I’m in. I have two teammates that I’m looking forward to getting to know, and our team benchmark WOD (workout of the day) is tomorrow night. The basics of the challenge are to: get 4 days a week of CF workouts in, eat Paleo the entire time (no cheating!) and make progress from your team benchmark workout. So, I tossed all of the non-Paleo foods from my house and stocked up yesterday on fresh fruits, veggies and meat. I’m also going to add some Paleo blogs to my sidebar in case anyone is interested. If you haven’t ever heard of Paleo eating, here is a good primer. Several people have asked why I’m changing my eating and why it has to be so ‘drastic’. I’ve lost a lot of weight and kept it off for several years. And I was successful at it because I was working out like crazy, but I never REALLY changed my eating. Sure, I cut out some of the really crap stuff. But I never successfully integrated fresh vegetables to my diet, and I’m always quick to turn to convenience foods. This challenge is giving me the opportunity to learn how to cook, and to eat fresh, whole foods. I’m looking forward to seeing how it responds. (And fitting into some cute jeans is a good side effect!)

    So yah, I’m excited, nervous and a little bit anxious over how long 8 weeks sounds. But today is Day 1. And I’m just going to take it one day at a time. I’ll definitely post the ‘After’ pictures ;) and I’m planning on tracking and blogging about my CF workouts and the challenge in general. I can use all the support you can offer!

  • August10th

    14 Comments

    Post-Ironman thoughts and what’s next…

    Posted in: crossfit, ironman

    So what now? I enjoyed the rest of my stay in Idaho. It was just beautiful and relaxing to hang out on Monday and Tuesday before heading back home on Wednesday.

    I won’t lie. It was tough being in the midst of all things Iron knowing the outcome of my day. There were some tears on Monday when I woke up and everything had sunk in. It wasn’t so much disappointment in myself (though I did feel that), but the feeling that I’d let everyone else down. I had over 120 emails in my inbox when I got back to the condo after the race and checked my email. But after talking it out, I realized that I was the only one that had that disappointment. Everyone else was just proud.

    Once I got home, I had no choice but to rest. My shoes were in the bag with my bike, which was coming back via Tri Bike Transport the following week. It was most definitely a sign to take it easy. I took just a little over a month off, and it was worth it. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been without a training plan, and I’d forgotten what it felt like to wake up on a Saturday and take the dog for a walk. Spend some time at the farmer’s market picking out fruits and veggies. Lay on the couch and watch a Mad Men marathon. Just whatever I felt like doing.

    So, now what? Where do I go from here? These are the things I know for sure:

    I’m not done with Ironman. I’ll be back. But next time, it won’t be a big scary monster. It will be a very long day that I will train hard for. And I’ll be a different athlete at that point. I’ll know that it’s possible and that I’ll have already become an Ironman when I toe the start line. Because I truly believe that everyone who trains for this race is already an Ironman. But that’s a couple years out. Because Ironman is expensive, and mama needs a break ;) Of course, I wrote this post while watching the replay of last year’s Kona World Championship. And I got some butterflies watching everyone start the race. So, it’s in there still. ;)

    So, a week ago, I walked into Crossfit. And I told the owner that I’d just raced Ironman and that I felt like I was in the worst shape of my life. Yes, I was fit enough for the endurance required to make it to mile 20 of Ironman within the time limit. But I don’t feel strong, and I want to change that. So that’s where I’m focusing. Building core strength and becoming strong. Taking the next step to get my body where I want it to be. I’m also going to mix in some running (shorter distances) and biking for good measure.

    And I know that getting to that point requires a drastic change in my diet. Afterall, I’ve learned that you can train for IM and not lose an ounce. It really is 80% diet. So my first step has been to get the processed stuff out of the house as much as possible and get to know the farmers market a little better. Baby steps.

    I can’t wait to see where this goes. I have some new things in store for the blog, and I’ll be working on it over the next few months. I’m excited to share this with you guys. So, yah. I’m still chasing iron. Iron will. Iron strength. Iron body. Ironman.

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