There's always lots of talk about recovery in relation to the demands of CrossFit. General suggestions are: lots of water, protein, 1-2 rest days, mobility. What I usually forget to mention is SLEEP! Sleep is the ultimate recovery. Sleep also tends to be extremely overlooked when it comes to health.
One reason I set a goal for 2013 to be better about my time management was so that I could create a habit of 'shutting down' earlier in the evening and getting more sleep. So far, not so good. :/ Remembering I had written about this once before, I am re-posting as a reminder...
WE NEED SLEEEEEEP!
******************************************
4-23-12
sleep
Sleep. It can be a
seductive embrace that holds you all night. It can also be a seductive embrace
that quickly morphs into an ornery toddler. There is little, if any, indication
as to which personality you'll be dealing with when you lay your head down on
the pillow each night. Well, at least not for a middle-ager like me.
Sleep. It's perhaps the
most restorative aide we can give our bodies and our minds. It allows for the
day's barrage of physical movement and mental stimulation to dissipate and
dissolve. If we are lucky, we dream colorful dreams. If we are even luckier,
we just sleep.
Sleep.
It's one area of 'training' that CrossFitters and other movers and shakers know
is completely necessary for optimum gains. It's one area of 'training' that
often gets overlooked because we are used to overlooking its importance. We
know we need it, but our tendency is to cut into our sleep time in order to have
an extra hour or two so as to have time for other things. If our time
management was better.......
Sleep. It needs to take a priority. Oh, how
I want it to take a priority! Sometimes, like today after having a double
session of WODding and not sleeping well last night, I want to know that sleep
will embrace me all night. I will take what I can get and be happy with that.
I also know that if I could turn off my brain alllllll night, I would not have
an issue falling back to sleep should I wake up when I
stir.
Sleep. It sounds
so delicious when you think about it in the middle of the afternoon when all you
really want is to close your eyes for an hour. It also sounds delicious when we
think of the comfie mattress, soft pillows, and perfect sheets.
Sleep. It feels so
great after a long busy day to be able to relax into your mattress and drift
off, ever hopeful.
Sleep. Here's hoping that tonight, everyone
gets embraced instead of trounced on by that ornery toddler!
Many people in my life, many things in my life are changing right now. I couldn't be more happy about this! Change may be inevitable, as the saying goes, but there is a general resistance to allow it. Consequently, when it does occur, the power from the energy that it takes to undergo change ripples out far beyond the initial source.
Be change.
Allow change.
Support change in others.
Let change end in failure.
Let change win over people.
Believe in yourself enough to change.
Pick change up off the street. :)
Dare yourself to be scared.
What you see as being very scary may be what someone else sees as a little scary.
What you see as a little scary may be what someone else sees a hugely scary.
Dare yourself to be scared and find out what's on the other side of that.
Being resistant to change is easier than being open to it.
If you're resistant, you may have to:
do no work
be in a rut
get stuck in fear
never truly be your whole you
never learn anything new
stay hidden
secretly dislike yourself
If you're open to change you may have to:
do some work
make an effort
be a little uncomfortable
learn a new activity
feel a moment of uncertainty
be less than perfect
find some inner strength
learn something new about yourself
begin to like yourself
appreciate everyone else more
smile, really smile....and often
Dare yourself to be scared. Amazing things can happen.
The CrossFit Games Open, 2013, is right around the corner. In fact, registration opens next week. I am hoping to qualify again as I would love to take another trip out to CA.
That said, it makes me nervous as hell. It's actually harder this year than last year. In 2011 I missed the cut by one spot. Having made it in 2012, then doing well at the Games, I feel more pressure. I'm reminding myself to keep those thoughts at a distance...stop them all together if that's possible. Biggest take from last year is that all I can do is the best I've got on any given day, and that I had a blast from the start of the Open to the end of the Games. That is what I need to focus on.
So much of what we do on any given day is easier or harder because of our own mental attitude toward it. Pretty sure this is not a new concept! Still, we have an uncanny ability to get in our own way, blocked by those "thought bubbles" that swirl around us. They are just airy bubbles. Blow them away! And DO NOT let anyone else's thought bubbles invade your territory. Blow those away even faster!!
Conceptually, this sounds easy. Reality? Some days we'd be hyperventillating trying to blow them all away. Those are the days to reposition oneself...head up, chest up, deep breath, and just know...know that you will have the best day you can have for that day. Not every day is going to be the same. Not every day will be perfect. Not everyday will be the worst. It's just a day...another day to experience.
Yeah, not so easy, but like everything we do, this needs practice. My focus is on practicing this as the Open gets closer. It's always fun, but in a twisted sort of way. I want to try to keep the twists out of it this year.
Course, that said, it doesn't help when I go to my coach's blog and he has that damn CrossFit Games Open countdown pic on the side of his entries. I can't blow hard enough to get that off my computer screen!
2013.
Who can possibly come up with the best, most memorable advice/observation/profundity for this new year? You know EVERYone is trying. Yes, even me. Not all of my damn, someone beat me to it winning entries have made it to the keyboard. Some are still stuck in *thought bubbles* over my own head.
What I realized this morning as I was reading a lot of insights about goals for 2013 is that the most important goal we can set out for ourselves...in my omnipotent opinion of course :)...is that we be great friends all year.
Easy to be a good friend, right?
Listen.
Be kind.
Show respect.
Spend quality one on one time.
Embrace imperfections as individual beauty.
The hard part is executing those actions toward oneself, which is exactly where I challenge everyone to direct those actions.
Be a friend to yourself.
Succeed at that and every other goal will find its home.
Perhaps the most meaningful quote I've ever read addressing that concept is:
"If we treated our friends the way we treat ourselves, we wouldn't have very many friends."
2013.
Be your own best friend.
Appreciate and enjoy.
Take care of yourself physically and emotionally.
Create a vortex of positive energy around yourself.
Let go of the notion that you need to please everyone.
Breathe and lighten up.
Be kind.
In turn, all of this will ripple out to those around you...best side effect ever!!
Have a great year (re)discovering yourself.
Post-Holiday, New Year goals/challenges...bring 'em on!
Time to reboot.
Each year brings new goals and challenges so be willing to take them on. They don't have to be big challenges to be valuable. Small ones can translate into huge transformations. CrossFit has taught me this.
We don't have to look at our goals as "all or nothing". Almost any goal can be broken down into *progressions*. CrossFit has taught me this.
Much of the time it's our own mental fortitude, or lack thereof, that blocks our successful follow through of achieving our goals. We make good progress at the beginning of our journeys, then let excuses sidetrack us. When the excuses become louder than our actions, why continue listening? Become comfortable with success AND set-backs. CrossFit has taught me this.
What will enhance your life?
What will bring you joy?
What will be an invigorating challenge?
What will be push you beyond your current limits?
What will challenge your beliefs about yourself?
For me?
Manage my time better. [um, this comes up every year!]
Read a book a month.
Sew a project a month.
Play at least one new game/sport in 2013...disc golf maybe. :)
Make it back to The Games. [scary to put this out there]
...all for starters!
There's still time to add. ;)
Let's call my current trend of reposting some older posts as:
**the year in review**
Yeah, that sounds good to me. :)
With the influx of new members at Beacon, many of whom are also new to CrossFit, there have been multiple discussions about the language of CrossFit. That said, I knew that the blogpost that follows would be an appropriate repost.
Learn the language of CrossFit, don't be hesitant to use it, and embrace the growing ease of the words flying out of your mouth. It's fun, functional, and a fabulous party game.... too far? Well, it could be a party game, like Password, but with all CrossFit words as the answers! Partner WOD: If you don't get the answer in the allotted time, 1min AMRAP of: 1 HSPU, 3 burpees, 1 swig.
GAME ONNNN!
~~second language~~ 2-6-12
I came upon this crossword clue in Sunday's paper: "goat hanger?" (answer: beard... whatever!) What I REALLY came across was a word that I instantly and involuntarily translated into: oh yeah, I need to work on mine. That word was 'goat'.
Goat, WOD, metcon, AMRAP, double under, hspu, Fran, Helen, Griff, Murph, kipping, butterfly, squats, deads, sdhp, snatch, jerks, cleans, Cindy, Grace, certs, throw downs...just to name a few of the words that help make up the CrossFit language. Every CrossFitter knows we have our own language. We learn it through immersion. Once in the box, the process starts. When I first began, I can remember feeling a little embarrassed speaking CrossFit because I felt I hadn't yet earned the 'right' to do so. Perhaps, as with any new language, I also felt I might not be using the words correctly, so I was shy about using them at all. As my confidence grew, I got better at the language.
I try to stick to speaking English when I am around someone who doesn't know CrossFit, especially when there are two or more of us with an English speaking person! It's difficult. CrossFit is a comfortable, exciting, joyful, saucy, happy, bawdy, creative language. Still, I know it's not always appropriate.
Not to blow our cover, but what non-CrossFit speaking people don't realize is that we are always translating English into CrossFit whenever we hear words that double as part of our language. It's hard to avoid. There are so many relatable words we hear and since at any given moment a CrossFitter can be mentally reviewing a WOD, a lift, or contemplating the next goal, jumping back and forth between English and Crossfit is natural once you know the language. Even harder for me, and I'm sure I'm not alone, are those occasions when a translation occurs and a joke formulates but there's no one with whom to share it. Oh sure, I can tell myself that it's good enough to whip out in class someday, but I forget and move on...sighhhhh...what a waste!
I always wanted to become fluent in a second language and just yesterday, because of the Sunday crossword clue: "goat hanger?", I realize that I have. Oh, and by the way, "goat" translates to: a movement in CrossFit that you suck at and therefore have to work on more often. "Embrace the suck" is a common phrase in my second language. :) And all that translates back into English as WAHOOO!
Happy Thanksgiving...yesterday.
Not that I need Thanksgiving to remind me that I have much to be thankful for, but 'tis the season for it all to bubble to the surface! Half our family was home, and the other half was a mere "facetime" away, so we all had a chance to hang out with each other.
Joy joy joy!
I headed into CrossFit Beacon to WOD yesterday and was so happy to see at least some of 'my' Beacon Peeps, my other family. The community that has/continues to develop at Beacon constantly reminds me how grateful I am that I have been able to be a part of it all since Beacon opened in April '12. We have an eclectic mix of ages and occupations, but the common denominator is that we are all people who have learned the value in becoming a Beacon member and in taking care of ourselves through physical activity, nutrition, and connection.
Physical activity: sweating together
Nutrition: clean eating...and beer mixed in with the Vita Coco in the gym's fridge
Connection: realizing the energizing quality of spending an hour a day in a class of crazy-ass people who laugh hard, work hard, then laugh hard all over again
I am extremely wowed by seeing the transformations people are making right in front of my eyes. It's impossible not to be aware of it. After a few short weeks, I notice these already wonderful people are creating a 'new normal' for themselves: standing straighter, getting firmer, laughing a little louder, getting bolder with their efforts, showing off their increased muscle definition, and talking about their new feats of strength (ie: the wife surprising the husband by rearranging the entire living room all by her dainty little self...BAM Susanna! :] ) It's impossible to take one's health and abilities for granted when you are surrounded by this type of energy daily!
Until recently, I kind of realized that while I do not take my own health and abilities for granted, I don't always appreciate my own gains because I have been living my current lifestyle for over two years now, so it's my *normal*. I also happen to be lucky enough to have a family of my husband and all 8 of my children (my 4 daughters and their spouses/partner) who all live very healthy lifestyles as well. And my granddaughter will have no choice but to grow up thinking 'normal' translates to being physically fit and eating cleanly. :) Because of this, I just don't really dwell on where I used to be...that was a place of relative health, although being 35# heavier and feeling as though that would be where I was destined to be the rest of my life.
 |
| from May '10 to Aug '12 |
I began CrossFit in May 2010, connected with it immediately, started dialing in my nutrition within about a week of starting, and am forever thankful that the combination of both has changed me from the inside out. Well, okay, I kind of like the changes from the outside in, too. ;)
There was no way I could have imagined my own transformation. To know my own, however, makes me totally appreciate the courage it takes for a person to walk through Beacon's doors and make the commitment to themselves to become healthier. Often they come in, as I did, knowing their former 'athlete' is inside of them somewhere and they want that person back. What they may not realize is how far their transformations can take their attitudes/outlooks in their lives in general. The journey becomes a series of wide-eyed joy and discovery of one's true strength, both inside and out.
'Tis the season to be thankful, but as the days pass and holidays are behind us, never forget that it's just plain healthy to appreciate one's own transformation. There's a "then and now" in all of us. Some of it may be physical, some emotional, but it's there. Enjoy the "now" by getting a little sweaty, enjoying a few laughs, and swigging a good beer in celebration of all your hard work!
