I’m 40% of the way to my goal and I have less than 100 pounds to go!!!!! I honestly wasn’t sure I’d ever get here. Officially 65 pounds down and I could not be happier!
When I first started this endeavor in January I was wearing a size 26 (honestly sometimes a 28). I needed a pair of khaki shorts and my mom offered to run out and get me some. When she came by my house to drop them off, I looked at the tag and thought she had lost her damn mind. She bought me a size 20. No freaking way they would fit. But you know what? They fit. They went on. They buttoned. I can sit. They are tighter than I want to wear them but holy shit they fit.
So, a week ago I competed in my third CrossFit competition (not including the open). This one was my favourite, by far, for a number of reasons. I’ve been sitting on this blog entry for a week now, not quite sure how to put into words why this one was different and my favourite, but I’ll do my best…
1. For once, I truly didn’t care how we placed. I barely checked the leaderboard all day. I wasn’t stressed or nervous about any event (not even the one with double unders even though I couldn’t do double unders worth a shit that day; some days I can, some days I can’t, and some days I don’t even try). I was excited. For every workout. CrossFit is just a lot of fun… even when the cardio makes me feel like I am dying, or when my forearms are blown up, or I get stuck under a really heavy barbell. I was excited for me and my team to just give it a full effort while having the most amount of fun knowing that IS good enough whether we came in first place, last place, or 16th place. Good enough.
2. The programming and everyone atCrossFit Brio is the greatest and this weekend made that very clear. Between the other Brio competitors, the volunteers, and the people behind it all, the Brio family is filled with the most excellent humans.
3. My progress. Because of the programming, I was able to measure my progress and I love seeing hard work pay off. Short term progress gets me down on the regular because I always think I should be making faster progress (perfectionist). But when I look back at my first competition (Feb 2014), my second (Feb 2015), and the Open competitions in 2013, 2014, and 2015… I realize I am a whole lot more fit now than I used to be and I am constantly getting a little bit better. Long term progress is way more fun and rewarding.
In event one, the barbell ladder (choice of snatch, clean and jerk, clean, or deadlift, with the most points for the snatch, then clean and jerk, etc), I (power) snatched 85#, (power) snatched 95#, snatched 105#, and got under a 115# snatch but narrowly missed it. I (power) clean and jerked 115#, 125#, and 135# all easily. Was quite close to squat cleaning 145#. Was less close but still tried and got under a clean at 155#. Deadlifted 145#-175# easily.
Two and a half years ago, I couldn’t deadlift more than 135#. I couldn’t snatch more than 55#. I couldn’t do more than 65# S2OH. I didn’t even know how to squat clean.
About a year ago, a 85-90# snatch was a struggle. 110# squat clean and jerk was a struggle.
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In event three, the gymnastics skills event, I did five easy unbroken (kipping) HSPU with one abmat. A quick rope climb. L-Sits on dumbbells for days. Four really fast pistols, twice. Four unbroken chest to bar pull ups, twice. As much as I love lifting, this was my favourite event. Why? Because if you asked me a year ago or even six months ago if my best or favourite event would be a gymnastics event, I’d have laughed in your face. This event was a full team effort and scored accordingly, but the only thing I felt I could have been better at was having bar muscle ups, butterfly chest to bars, or faster HSPUs and the confidence to go with all those things. Next year. I was honestly just really pleased with how I did here because of previous struggles. Again, it’s awesome when you see your hard work actually pay off.
Four and a half months ago, I couldn’t get any HSPUs in the open (flat surface, so only slightly harder than this competition) and still could just barely do them with one abmat (some days I couldn’t). Four and a half months ago, I couldn’t link chest to bar pull ups, let alone two sets of four. Less than a year ago, my rope climbs were not to be counted on. A year ago my balance on pistols was horrendous and I had never done them in a workout.
4. The team. My unicorns. When I didn’t think that gymnastics event could get better and more fun, it did. Rana ended up doing four pistols (on one leg…) even though highly doubting it going in. It was amazing to see what can happen when you’re in a competition and you have all of your team, crowd, and judge (Courtney) cheering for you.
The team didn’t hate on me (at least not to my face) for sucking at double unders, which caused some of them to have to do a lot of thrusters. I’m sorry, team.
We all learned that teamwork/synchronized work is infinitely more challenging that it looks. Doing work on your own is hard still but it’s easy to make your move when you want when you’re the only one moving and you can basically turn your brain off. But when you have to time your burpees, pull ups, box jumps, dumbbell snatches/clean and jerks, overhead lunges, sit ups, and single bar deadlifts with a team of two or four people? You need to use your brain 95% more. So way to go on using our brains to not get too many no-reps, you guys (could have done with a few less no-reps on the weighted sit ups, though). ;)
5. That dark place. I compete every day with myself mostly, but workout partners too and just other people in the gym and such. But it’s not the same as actually stepping out on the floor with a judge beside me and people watching, so everyone should compete in a real competition once in awhile… it’s good for us. After event two and four especially, I’ve learned that I can actually go faster than I think I can and that I am not as horrible and slow as I think I am, and that I should try a little harder some days…maybe. :)
