Moving Mountains

Today is kind of a jumbled mess of ideas. I've tried to assemble them into some sort of coherent order; I hope this offers something worthwhile for the reader.

Before crossfit, I saw molding my body into a Spartan as an obstacle, a very large mountain. Not one that I that I necessarily thought impossible to climb, but one where I had no idea where to start. Now having entered the crossfit world, I think I can handle this mountain.

When I’m in the blue room, I’m experiencing a certain peace. This is tricky, but let me try to explain: I enjoy pushing myself; I enjoy working really, really hard because doing so forces me to live in the now, and I feel like I obtain some sort of truth in the process. I’m not saying that if today I did Fran in 30 min the truth is I’m weak, or if I ended up not finishing the truth is I’m a quitter. What I’m saying is in that crossfit demands so much from me that I have no choice but to focus entirely on the moment, to abandon everything that is weighing on my mind so I can handle the task at hand. Problems at work don’t matter, the upcoming trip doesn’t matter, heck, even the exercise I did five seconds ago doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except the push up, box jump, etc., I have to do right now.

"The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." ~Confucius

About nine days ago I was talking to Lance (not real name), and when I told him that I thought I could gain entry into the top 5 for 500m row because on 11th I rowed 1:47 he replied with some disbelief, saying something akin to "You do know you would have to drop your time by 12 seconds, right?" I smiled and said I thought I could do it, but truthfully I didn't really know. Well, this Monday I entered the top five with a time of 1:32. Well today I tried it again, and when I was moving that "oar" back and forth I didn't think about Lance, I didn't think about the fact that I've already achieved my goal and entered the top 5, I didn't think about any self-doubt, I didn't think about any of that. It was just me, and that oar. It felt like forever, but it turns out I rowed 500m in 1:28.7, and set a new class record.

I’ve faced and overcome some very large obstacles in my lifetime, and have overcome them by adopting the approach of taking things day by day, constantly asking myself “Regardless of what happened today or what will happen tomorrow, what can I do today?” I've never really been able to apply this to exercise for some odd reason, but now in the crossfit environment I think I've found a way, and it makes me supremely confident that I will transform myself into such a crossfit athlete that even I will be somewhat content. Today, I carried away a medium stone. I fully expect that mountain to be gone before I know it.

Rule #76 No excuses, Play like a Champion!

I don't know why, but today I just couldn't get this slogan from wedding crashers out of my head. Rule #76 was pertinent to today's workout because I feel like I did play like a champion, but not before I had to give an excuse and not play.

Confused? Let me explain. Today's workout involved front squats, and although I felt like my legs were definitely strong enough to do the prescribed weight, my shoulder was not up for the challenge. The second time I cleaned 135 lbs, I felt my shoulder scream at me. I think my technique is still imperfect, and my shoulder confirmed this. This is of course bad news, but I'm happy that I had only a little problem telling myself I needed to back off the weight. And when I told Danny, who was helping me with my technique, he was supportive of the decision as well. Upping the reps while lowering the weight allowed me to work out my legs without hurting my shoulder further.

But here's how I ended up playing like a champion: I took the 500 m row challenge. I've used row machines before, and my build lends itself to being a good rower. The other Friday I did 500 m in 1:43, so I figured I could get 1:30. Well, I actually didn't get it down to 1:30, my legs started to give out on me near the end thanks to the squats. Instead I got it in 1:32!!! Very stoked about this, I'm really happy. I figure in a couple of months I'll have it down to 1:26, thinking about making that my 12 week goal.

Today's work out:

5 rounds untimed
Max front squats (prescribed was 135lbs)
Max weighted strict chins

This is how I did:
Round 1- 10 (135)
5 strict chins
Round 2- 10 (135)
5 chins with 12 lbs
Round 3- 15 (95)
4 chins with 20 lbs
Round 4- 15 (95)
3 chins with 20 lbs
Round 5- 15 (95)
3 chins with 20 lbs

500M: 1:32

100 ab mat sit-ups