dear feet

Dear Feet,

Last night, Laurence grabbed one of you and gave it a loving squeeze as he walked by me. Talk about a surprise feel-good moment!! WOW

Feet, beautiful or ugly as you may be, you are a wondrous and forgotten part of people's bodies.  I apologize for all the abuse we humans put you through each day. Pass that along to all your other feet friends!

~We put you on the floor in the morning and expect you to go from zero to 60 with no warm up. 
~We use you to kick objects out of our way, open doors, use your tippytoes to reach up high, run to catch the bus, run for health, walk, skip, hop, dance....
~We stuff you into torture devices shoes. (Well, Feet, you know that I don't like to do that unless the snow is blowing...or I have to run, perform box jumps, or do some double unders on you.)
~We get frustrated when you feel less than stellar.
...better said, we don't really feel you at all, Feet, until you do feel less than stellar.
Talk about utter neglect!

It's always hard to hear when someone has something seriously wrong with a foot or worse, both of their feet.  It's also not surprising that it happens.  We ride rough on you guys. 
Let's let you heal. Love you up.  Be kind to you. 
Reflexology doesn't get nearly enough 'air time'.  That may be how I should be choosing to pamper you two more often...right to the source of AHHHH. :)

That squeeze Laurence gave you led to those glorious few minutes of him literally squeezing both of you. Do you remember how great that felt? 

I promise not to be so neglectful of you from now on.  You have been very good to me and I just want to thank you!

love,

your person and her daughter...feet buddies

annie, your person

go ahead, be sore

Newbies to CrossFit almost always get around to asking the question, "Will I always be sore?" 
I hate to break it to them, but I have to answer "yes".
(Enter, mobility and fluids!!)
What I also say, however is that we all adapt to our various levels of soreness.  As an athlete, you need to learn to read your body as to what feels sore and what is a little more nagging...perhaps a 'pain'.  Pay attention. Take an extra day off if you aren't sure.  The box will still be there, the coaches will still be there, your CF family will still be there.  Better to choose to take an extra day off than to have to take a month off. 

Speaking for myself, my levels of soreness ebb and flow depending on the week's WODs. Feeling at ease with how my body responds and knowing that what I'm feeling is *good* soreness leading to a stronger body and continued fitness takes the focus off of it.  It just is.

The first summer I was CrossFitting was also the first full summer I played golf.  Some days I didn't think I would be able to swing the club, and even when I did it wasn't always very pretty! (Okay, so it's still not always very pretty, but... :} )  I  couldn't help but focus on the soreness that summer.  Then after about three months, it just stopped being on my mind all the time.  That three month mark is kind of magical.  It's when true fitness gains are staring back at you from the mirror, whispering positive self-talk phrases to you, wrapping you with a new cloak of confidence.  It begins happening sooner, but at three months, it sticks!

So go ahead, be sore, and keep WODding.  Your life both inside and outside the box will thank you for it!

 

self-direct

It always seems that the change of seasons elicit changes of outlooks in humans as well. This Summer of 2012 heading into Autumn of 2012 is no different.  I've been hearing mutterings and musings all around me of thoughts reaching beyond what is *status quo*.  It's frickin' exciting!

Experimenting with new outlooks, adventures, foods, etc. can be really scary.  There's something wonderful about being reminded by nature that it's not only okay to experiment and change, but it's necessary. 
Well, of COURSE it's necessary because change happens whether we want it to or not.  The excitement of change occurs when we are bold enough to self-direct it, even at the risk of crashing! 

CrossFit has helped me in so many ways, not the least of which has been learning that failure is not really a word worthy of owning.  In CrossFit, we can modify any movement to accommodate our *rehabbing* bodies, our nervousness about a particular movement, even our battered bodies from the previous night's partying. (Wait, CrossFitters party?? :P ) The muscle memory we rely on to learn the movements in CrossFit applies to our brains as well.  While having a day where the WOD owns you instead of you owning the WOD is not fun, you know the opposite will occur soon, if not the very next WOD.  Learning that a WOD that owns you does not mean you have failed, rather you just need to work at the WOD's movements more, is why you keep going back to your box. Results are as constantly varied as the workouts.  You're reminded to be adaptable. 

Autumn is almost here according to the calendar.  Hearing people talk about trying something new, be it a 10K race, a Paleo challenge, a career change, a new sport, etc, is motivating.  It ripples out into the minds of those around you, so never be afraid to let others know what new adventure you may be contemplating.  There is no failure in undertaking an experience in life that doesn't work out.  If you don't, then life becomes about what you can't do, what you are afraid to do, what you won't do instead of looking at life in terms of what you can do, what you can try, what you will experience.  There's no failure in any of that.  Be self-directed in your experiences.  Own them!

six reps

I know I've said this before, the bigger my CrossFit 'circle' gets, the smaller it gets.  It's undeniable how connected we are as CrossFitters.

*Six Reps of Separation*...yep, that's us.
Six reps of separation from BACON. 
Oh, c'mon, you know this is too perfect!
(just in case you don't know to what I'm referring...)

The simple fact is, we are a group of people who meet in an environment with a focus on health and wellness. CrossFitters are not ageist or sexist or elitest.  We are humans.  No one cares how far into the journey a fellow CFer is, they just know that we all understand there is nothing better than taking those steps needed to keep committed to one's well-being.  The path is rarely straight and smooth, but it's always open.

The best thing is that this focus doesn't end at a box door.  As individuals, we take it into the world, this feeling of wellness, and it ripples out into our lives outside the box. Of course, we feel so good we hope to bring other people into it. We want to share.  We are not an exclusive 'club' in the least.  Hard for some to believe, but it's true.  Go take a free CrossFit class somewhere and find out first hand!

One huge lesson I've learned over the years I've been CrossFitting is to tone down my enthusiasm when I am asked "what do you do".  After that initial euphoric connection to CrossFit occurs within your soul and you see how much better a version of yourself you are becoming, it's r.e.a.l.l.y hard not to come off like you're off your rocker when you share your love of CF in answer to that question.  Oh, how easily some people glaze over or simply back away.  :)  That's when you realize that you have to tone yourself down.  While I find it impossible not to infuse my words with joy and excitement, the answer to that question definitely makes more of an impact when I say it without jumping up and down and throwing in a few air squats as a demo!

As for our growing but equally intimate community, no matter who we may meet in CrossFit, we are always only six reps of separation from each other...and bacon.

chew on this

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!

put me in, coach!

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!

ALLLL Righty then.  It begins tomorrow! 

baggage

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!