My home box, CrossFit Endure, hosted the Granite Games Throwdown today.
It was an awesome day, great weather, full of fun and friends and challenging workouts, laughter, and camaraderie.
The gals and I finished third place, and I couldn’t be more proud of them. Both are some strong ladies who know how to bring it! Thanks, Michelle and Candice, for making great memories!
Life is not a sprint–it’s a marathon.
Running a marathon is not easy. It’s long. It’s hard. There are obstacles along the way.
I’ve been struggling lately with my diet/bloating issues and CrossFit. All of it has been blah.
Each day I fail in the little things–dietary commitments, pushing myself, and overall just getting things done.
I was going over in my mind yesterday and what I needed to do today and the next day and the next to get where I need to go.
The word recommit kept playing over and over in my mind.
In the end, that’s all I really can do. The past is past. The future is what I make it. So I need to recommit to my goals–all of them–and move forward. Just like you do in a marathon.
My daughter and I ran the 5k Pancake Stampede today in Littleton, CO. The 5K race course ran along the Platte River on the Mary Carter Greenway with the start/finish in front of Hudson Gardens Event Center.
It was a flat 5k running course with plenty of geese and ducks swimming in the river. It was an early start (8am), so we beat the heat. It wasn’t my best time, but it was good enough for 3rd place in my age group.
Afterwards, Littleton was celebrating their Western Welcome Week and had a pancake breakfast at Arapahoe Community College. My daughter ate 4 pancakes, while I drank coffee.
Fun, little race. Not crowded. Fun day!
For the past 2 months or so, I’ve been extremely unmotivated to do CrossFit. My arm was messed up for a while (it’s much better now). I got frustrated with ring muscle ups. And I’ve been fighting bloating issues for two weeks out of every month–which leaves me feeling drained and blah.
I’m at the point now I need to get re-motivated. So how do you do that? Here are several ideas I’ve had:
Am I there yet? No. Still muddling through the days one at a time, but I know it’ll come again.
After all, the CrossFit Open is 6 months away. That’s my motivation…
Looking for a CrossFit Hero Workout that was short, I picked Artie. Named after Police 
Officer Arthur “Artie” Lopez of New York, Officer Lopez was killed in the line of duty in 2012.
It is a 20 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of:
This is Cindy with some thrusters, I thought. No problem.
It turned out to be a problem.
About round 3, I kept thinking, This sucks. I don’t want to be doing this.
After each round, I’d check the clock and think, Ok, only 14 minutes left. Ok, only 11 minutes left.
Those were some LONG minutes!
I finished with 9 rounds overall. I was elated to be done, and I went on my merry way.
The next day, I wasn’t quite so merry. My quadriceps were screaming at me. My arms were sore.
Maybe it was the 90 thrusters I did.
Maybe…
CrossFit is known for constantly-varied, functional exercises in many different time modes and sequences. There are an infinite number of workouts so odds are you won’t ever do the same one twice–except for Benchmark Workouts.
So what is a Benchmark Workout in CrossFit? Benchmark workouts are designed to measure improvement through repeated, regular appearance in your medium- and long-term regimen. They first appeared officially in the CrossFit Journal in September 2003, and that early list included Angie, Elizabeth, Barbara, Chelsea, Diane and Fran. The motivation for naming them, as Glassman said in December 2009 discussion, was simple: He wanted to be able to explain the workout once to his group, give it a name, and then refer to the name next time the workout came up. It’s easier to say “Fran” than to say “a front squat into push press followed by pull-ups.” Why girl names? Well, think of hurricanes. Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit, has said, “any workout that leaves you flat on your back, staring up at the sky, wondering what the hell happened, deserves a girl’s name.”
Why should you care? Because these workouts is what tells you you’re improving. You’re getting stronger. You’re getting fitter. Because when you stare at yourself day-in and day-out, you seem the same. Someone else has to tell you. Someone else had to tell me I was gaining muscle. Someone else has to tell me my stomach is leaner (because to me it’s always fat). Some outside source has to be your guide or you’re stuck in a mindset of uselessness.
Benchmark workouts do just that. This week we did Helen. Helen is three rounds for time of 400 m run, 21 kettlebell swings, and 12 pull ups. I beat my time by almost a minute from just 2 months ago. I know this is due to the fact I now have butterfly pull-ups; whereas, before I did not. It makes you feel good when you beat your old time of a timeless workout.
CrossFit works. You change. You grow. You’re stronger. You’re healthier. You’re amazing. And benchmark workouts verify just that.
My Journey to the CrossFit Games 