Reset

 

 

Reset – The oh so necessary button that must be pressed after the holiday indulgences.  Because let’s face it, we’re all a bunch of gluttons.  Most of the year, we’re gluttons for punishment by how we go balls to the wall, all out at the gym, making sure there’s not a drop of sweat left.  We tackle the holiday buffet the same way – not a morsel, not a crumb, not a decadent calorie left unenjoyed.  But now it’s time to reset (though I’m sure many of you will continue in the lavishness through New Year’s – by all means enjoy!  But it will make the reset button a little harder to reach).

Luckily for most of us in the CrossFit world, all we need to do is hit the reset button.  This is not a dreaded hit power, pull out the game, blow on it incessantly because clearly a buildup of dust is what is causing our malfunction, and then cross our fingers that hitting power one more time will jump start us into what we’ve looked forward to.  That cold reboot (hopefully) is left for those that have yet to taste CrossFit, but for those I say – hit power!  Pull out the game!  Blow off that dust!  And get your butt to the nearest CrossFit gym!  Duck hunt season is not over, Super Mario can still be save the princess, and you too can still win the war against being lame!

SO this morning I hit my reset button, albeit way earlier than intended (had to be in the office by 6 am this morning after so wonderfully laying my head down at 1 am – can I have school and 4 wks of winter break back?).  After stretching out a bit, I wondered how hard this reset was going to be.  Peered in the fridge to find a most definitely empty icebox, which meant food-wise: first things first – get thee to a Publix immediately after work!  WOD-wise – I didn’t take the holidays off, much to Twinkie’s chagrin.  Instead, I took the opportunity to explore a new box that had opened up in my hometown – The Gate CrossFit.  Friday, hit a great WOD with Max & Cody - a wod I LOVE, and by love, I mean detest for my familiarity with it by way of epic fail circa Week 5 of The Games Open.  But lo and behold, I did substantially better than I had performed that sad week in April.  No longer an epic fail.  Rather – VICTORY!  (this is a reset, let’s celebrate the small wins eh?)  Saturday = Team WOD with poor Shane stuck as my partner to face off against Austin & and another Gate woman.  I hadn’t seen a “named” team wod, so for all I know, Austin attached the name just to make me feel more intimidated. 

“Winchester” it was (and not the Winchester I found on Google, though post-wod I felt like someone had blasted me with the one on Google). 

5 min AMRAP

30 hand-release pushups/30 KB Swings (53/35)

5 min AMRAP

Deadlift (135/95)/ Situps

5 min AMRAP

SDHP (53/35)/ Box Jumps (24/20)

5 min AMRAP

Thrusters (65/45)/ Push Press (65/45)

Shane & I gave it our all, and our all was a whopping 672 reps, complete with fried shoulders!  A very legit effort as evidenced by the sweat stains that I’m sure Austin is still trying to clean off the floor. 

Me w/The Gate CrossFit

Between work at The Gate and completing my 5000 double unders by Christmas challenge, I feel that my performance upon return to CrossFit Music City will only be dampered by the excessive food-gluttony in which I participated.  Correction – I FELT that my performance would not demonstrate a slothful Christmas holiday.  That is before I saw this morning that Stacey had an excursion home from the holidays fraught with delay, which can only mean I am sure to face not chipper, jovial, “I love life at 6 am post-3^rd Monster energy drink” Stacey, but rather menopausal, cranky-face “this gym is a mess!” Stacey and with him, a workout for which there is no feeling prepared.

Mental-wise – just as important for us as our food and physical training – this reset is the most difficult to assess.  Yes, I feel recharged after spending a few days with the family.  It’s a good sign that I faced the reset button eagerly rather than with hesitant dread.  But, I worry that mentally my head’s not quite in the game.  For starters, trying to squeeze the 5000 double unders in 2 weeks has left me no desire to pick up a rope anytime soon (though I’m sure I could be persuaded if someone felt the need to send me a new rope, as the challenge thoroughly obliterated mine).  I’ve got Twinkie’s voice playing over and over again in my head “Rest! Rest! Rest! Then Reset!”  I think his voice is turning into a broken record that’s convincing me that I didn’t mentally rest enough to be ready to reset. 

But as always, I will choose to ignore Twinkie and WOD it up regardless.

Added Bonus:  A How to Attack Christmas Dinner Like A True CrossFitter

Step 1: Start with a Whole Turkey

Step 2: Enjoy it piece by piece

Step 3: Leave nothing but the carcass!

The Year of the CrossFit Junkie

Yes, I’m a bandwagon riding year in review kind of girl..  1) It helps us appreciate it where we’ve come from and the hard work we put into getting where we are.  2) I think reflection helps us prepare better for what’s ahead. 3) I just wanted to post more pictures on here.

Because this is a reflection of my CrossFit year, I’m throwing out the typical Jan-Dec calendar (who cares what about months Romans came up with forever ago anyway).  This year was really about going from habitual CrossFit social hour to full-blown CrossFit junkie.

We opened CrossFit Tuscaloosa officially on Dec. 1, 2010.  It was definitely going to be an interesting adventure, particularly for Drew and Brittany.

I left to go to Idaho for the holidays after only a week and a half, so it wasn’t until January when I got back that I really had the opportunity to get into our new home in the Tuscaloosa Downtown YMCA.  Immediately, I knew Drew was going to put us to work.

But by February, we were in the swing of things and at least had a fun group to suffer through WODs with.   I was a social CrossFitter after all, so it better be fun!

Sarabeth and I headed to Garage Games and tried to stay warm.  This was like being introduced to Bacardi Ice when you’re in high school.  No one thinks you’re going to go hard core.  You’re just a groupie, dressed cute in boots and leggings, clearly just there to cheer people on.  But someone had to get SB through that awful trail run in the wet cold.  I had no idea that my future CrossFit home, CrossFit Music City, was there competing as well, or that Rebecca was hating that trail run just as much as SB.

The girls at CFT that I had conned into running New Orleans for my 26^th birthday managed to have fun as well.  It was far more a 4-day eating holiday with this little run at the end of the weekend. 

The supportive spouses gave us that extra little advice we needed to get through the race.  Justin Williams channeled Rich Froning – I think the rest of us just focused on feeding our faces.

In March, still amazingly injury free, I placed overall for the first time in a race.  What’s more amazing is the fact that I did it at altitude in Idaho – and that my mother stole my medal.

CrossFit had prepared me well for the post-race photo.

March also brought on the Open.  While I was disappointed to not have a Sectionals competition to go watch and see CFT face off against those in the area, a lot of CFT showed up each week to see Drew, Sarabeth, Max, and Chuck tackle the Open WODs.

Like for any WOD, Maxwell was calm about each of the events.

Maybe even excessively happy.

The Open was definitely a taste of a bit of that CrossFit high – did you see how happy Maxi looked?

For the first time, I was considering actually “training” instead of just being a recreational wodder.  Afterall, I was getting stronger….

And I joined Greg for Flying Lessons (aka – finally learning how to do double unders).

We participated in CrossFit Innovate’s March of Dimes Throwdown Week 3 of the Open, where (shocker) Sarabeth took first for the women and Drew took first for the men.

Not to be left out of the fun, there was a second WOD for those of us not badass enough (yet) to compete in.

Even Camille, one of my bffs from Law School who I had roped into CrossFit a few months earlier, enjoyed the fun of competition.

Summer lead us to Regionals, which Sarabeth and Drew had qualified for.  Brittany, Carla, Cary, and myself couldn’t miss out on supporting them – though Carla almost did.  You’ve never met anyone so terrified of flying, nor has God heard so many prayers in the 30 sec. period that makes up take off and landing.

Plus who could pass up a trip to Jacksonville to be surrounded by hot CrossFit people?

Regionals was an opportunity to meet so many people in CrossFit that I knew I’d turn into a competition junkie.  Starting to resemble a CrossFit addict, I got my fix whenever I could, including getting my Level 1 Cert at CrossFit Atlanta.  But like progressing from “oh I’ll just take a cranberry juice with a splash of vodka” to “Scotch neat, and you really think I’d take anything other than single-malt?”, I showed the true levels of my addiction by going to the CrossFit Games as my post-bar exam trip.  Others go to the beach or backpack through Europe.  No, I do this….

Watch the ladies of CrossFit beat most all of the men in the L-Sit….

Meet Iceland Annie….

Hang out with Sparkle & Shine…

Support future ex-husband, Chris Spealler, while he works…

Study Muscle-Ups from the pros

Watch the blossoming bromance of Rich & Schraeder…

and spend time with my CrossFit Addiction Support Group.

But like any true addict knows, that you can’t just have that big high and be good.  Oh no, you must feed it constantly….

So I spent the rest of the summer being CrossFit Mom to Sarabeth, going from Garage Games Event to Garage Games Event.  How else are you going to meet characters like…

Justin “the Spider Monkey, Kill Cliff Whore” Key

Or

Fitness Supermodel, Keisha Brazell

and

SouthEast badass Leah Polaski.

And of course it doesn’t hurt that CrossFitters look like this.  ;)

But by the time Faction was done, I needed to get into this competition business myself.  I’m a smart girl, and since I had spent the summer recovering from a torn rotator cuff (thank God no surgery), I eased into it with some charitable Throwdowns, like CrossFit 27:17’s FGB 6.

Yes the big name events are awesome.  And the competitors always leave me in awe.  But these smaller throwdowns touch my heart in a way that the big stage doesn’t.   At FGB6, I saw this woman.

She’s Laura Gardener.  I had met her a year ago at FGB5 – just a couple of weeks after she had started CrossFit.  I had been her judge for that event, and couldn’t help but hug her after the WOD was over, seeing her fight for every rep and taking it one station at a time.  A year later, and she’s clearly gotten stronger and LOVES CrossFit.  THIS is why I coach and THIS is why I love CrossFit.

So with my heart full of some serious CrossFit love, by October I was itching to

get a hit of that competition buzz. I, along with Sarabeth and my good friend, Chris Grothe traveled down to middle-of-nowhere Georgia for the South Georgia Throwdown.

No Garage Games Event would be complete without…

Key’s shameless Kill Cliff product pushing,

 Clapping pushups in public,

 Brian’s Game face,
 

More shameless product placement (Chris didn’t get the memo about facing the Kill Cliff can toward the camera…don’t worry Justin – I’m sure he’ll do better next time).

And 35# PRs.

Of course the best thing about being a CrossFit junkie, is spreading the addiction.  So now that I was addicted to competition, I had to get others addicted as well.  But I had just learned that I was moving to Nashville.  And all nearby Garage Games events were over.  So riddle me this Batman – how do I push the product?

Answer:  Local competitions.

Having passed on the addiction, I sadly left Tuscaloosa and my CFT family…

And made a new home at CrossFit Music City in Nashville

Can’t wait to see what next year brings!  Until then...I'll just keep feeding the addiction.