As I sat down to a steak and stringed bean dinner tonight, I appreciated how uncomplicated it was. It was satisfying and complete. Clearly, my tastes are simple.
Sure, I really appreciate all the beautiful pictures of food that people post on FB, that I see in magazines, that are plated for me when I go to a restaurant, when friends have Laurence and me for dinner, or even when I cook more fancy either just for us or also for friends. It's fun to experiment with food. It's appealing when the food on your plate looks the part of delicious as well as tasting delicious. But for me, it doesn't have to be allllll the time.
Sometimes I just want good food. Maybe it stems from my upbringing. There were six of us kids and our mom always cooked plenty of food for us all. It was rarely very fancy, although she sure could put on a fantastic spread when she needed/wanted to. I came to learn in later years that because of the simple act of cooking *from scratch*, my mom's cooking was considered something of a hippy-ish wonder by many of my friends. To me, she just cooked good food.
best when frozen :)
Granted, I don't cook all the foods I used to cook when I was raising our girls, but except for the rare occasion, I've also always cooked *from scratch*. I've come to find out that because of that simple act of cooking that way, I was known by some of my kids' friends as something of a hippy-ish wonder. I mean, chew on this: just because I cooked for my family, my own friends were always shocked when they found out gasp, i ate chocolate along with my girls that my girls were allowed to have some occasional chocolate, as if I was so *pure*! I always got a good chuckle out of that. If they could see me now...a little chocolate most every day...usually four to five choc. almonds. (Honestly, I'd eat more, but because I like them from the freezer, my jaw gets too tired to eat more...go ahead, eye roll here!)
So yes, I think my simple food tastes are not forced upon me because I don't like to cook, but because I don't see the problem with a simple looking plate the majority of the time. Even adding some tasty side items to my plate is done with little splash.
I kind of love that my food choices ~~which are the result of both the nutrition espoused by the culture of CrossFit and therefore by the learned practice of, among other things, omitting grains~~ allow me to keep my cooking simple and uncomplicated. It only gets complicated when I'm out of my daily fix of chocolate almonds!
Having 2 1/4 years of CrossFit under my belt, I've experienced a few great months of major improvement, sprinkled with a few months of stagnation. That is bound to happen as life swirls around us and either our focus or our desire ebb and flow. It just is.
I have been having continued joy and physical improvements/gains following some standard programming and adding a little of my own extra work on skills and *goats* here and there. (Remember? *Goats* are movements in CrossFit that we suck at!) This practice even got me to a heady 2nd place finish in my age group at the Games. So why change *what ain't broke*? Well, I think that's the beauty of CrossFit. I don't believe there is any ONE specific end-all way to program for optimal fitness within the CrossFit protocol, and that teaches us to keep an open mind to various ways to achieve our desired outcome as CrossFitters. It also encourages learning and experiencing new activities on a regular basis! And sometimes, we just need to shake ourselves up!
This has led me to the decision to work with a coach this year. I've never had a coach and I am curious to see how far I can go as an athlete with one. That is my motivation. It has little to do with competitions, rather a major curiosity. My programming will include a variety of WODs, with rep schemes and movements similar to any CrossFit program. The difference is that the methodology my coach will be basing this all on will be tailored to my own strengths and, primarily, weaknesses. I definitely do not shy away from my weaknesses now, but I don't think I address them head on either.
Being held accountable to a coach is something I'm both excited about and nervous about!
I begin my program tomorrow and am looking forward to getting into it. I will be writing my daily WODs and insights into how they went under *training* should anyone be interested in taking a peek.
What I'm also really happy about is that my coach is accomodating my desire to continue to WOD with my fellow CF Beacon athletes a couple times each week when I am not coaching a class. This is a piece of the whole program that I did not want taken away. I truly love WODding with *my peeps* so I'm very happy this will remain part of my program!
Geez, I haven't posted for a long time and now I'm restarting my blog with a reference to a tv show. That's kind of a fail, but bear with me. :)
Said show is "How I Met Your Mother". The episode I'm referencing was about baggage that people carry around with them from their pasts. Then some interesting timing occurred; the next day I had a conversation with a fellow Beacon-er regarding the hesitation some people feel when they even THINK about signing up for CrossFit.
"I used to be an athlete." "I used to be in shape." "I used to weigh less." "I used to...." "I used to...." "I used to...."
Just like the show's theme, all of those sentences are just pieces of baggage that we hold onto even though we needn't. That was at another time in your life. It was another you really. And most importantly, you aren't *back there*, you are where you are right now. You are starting from today, who you are now, and moving forward.
Beginning any steps toward being healthier and more confident in yourself is the time to let go of the baggage. And whether those steps are through CrossFit Beacon or a yoga studio or swimming or whatever, just CHOOSE SOMETHING and put down that baggage. It's pretty amazing how much better just doing that will start to make you feel!
