Kiss Me When the Full Moon Begs

My poor beautiful hands!

2011-05-11T04:59:00.000-07:00

So, I went to another class. Went to a Friday class. And to be honest, the only reason I picked this class was because of the pull ups. I have been wanting to improve on my pull ups since making the decision to come back to Crossfit. If I would have known what this workout would have done to my hands, I would have substituted things from the start!

WOD:
21-18-15-12-9-6-3
Pull ups
Sit ups
Overhead lunges (used a 10# medicine ball)

Well, the hands started ripping during the set of 18. And then they finished ripping at the set of 15. I had to stop doing pull ups and substituted jumping pull ups. Sit ups were sit ups. :) I used a 10# medicine ball for the lunges. Those were killer! My arms were dead! But I finished with a time of 21:11! My goal was just to finish and I did!

However, the problem with finishing was my poor hands!

So, after this workout, I have come to the conclusion that I am banning pull ups for the rest of my career! LOL. My other hand looked just as horrible as this one. I will still do some pull ups, but I can't do a WOD like this at this current time. My hands are my life. My hands start IV's, do foleys, undress people, clean patients, give out stickers and Popsicles, hold hands, and give hugs. My hands are so important and I have to take care of them.

I think what I am going to need to do is use Crossfit for strength training and start running to help slim me down. I hate running. Not going to lie, it is not fun for me. But when we have been doing the 400m run warm ups at Crossfit, I can make it through. So I downloaded the couch to 5K app for my iPhone, and I want to start running. I want to do a mud run. I am excited. It is time to start my new life. And commit to the Paleo diet! Paleo cookie recipe was a success! Now to make more tasty things!

Shoulder Fatigue is the worst

2011-04-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally sucked it up and did it. I may be short on money for a while, but I did it. I signed up for a 10 class card at Crossfit Deep/Uptown. I went to the Thursday WOD at Uptown. It is actually a lot closer to my house than Deep is. And I in love with the small classes! It was just me and two other guys.

WOD:

Press
5x3

After each set of 3, immediately perform 3 dips.

Rest

3 Rounds
10 Press (50% of weight used above)
10 Box Jumps
10 Bar-Touch Burpees (Touch pullup bar on each burpee)

Time: 7:16 (Damn you burpees!)

So, with the press, it was not the prettiest. Working set:

35-40-45-40-35

45# was heavy, and was able to do one set, but couldn't even do a second set. Then had to drop down for the 4th set, and again for the 3rd set. Mixed emotions. It's starting all over again. When I first started crossfit, I did shoulder press with only the PVC pipe. And now starting back over again, I am at least doing 45#. It can only improve! Hopefully it won't be long until I am back to what my max was. And this time I am trying to be more committed to the Paleo diet. It is hard, and we are trying to find recipes that we both like. Hopefully it won't take us too long to convert over, but we are doing it gradually. Oh, and *MAJOR* win on the ring dips! I started off using the green band for the ring dips, and well, I had to switch to the BLUE band to do them! :) I was never able to do the blue band before, and now I can! I think a good part of that is that I lost so much weight that with the green band it just doesn't go down. But I am very happy that I can do ring dips with a harder band.

The second part....wasn't that much fun at all! LOL. I did 20# for the push press, box step ups, and knee push up burpees. Burpees slow me down! I hated them before, and I don't think I will ever come to love them. For one, I get really light headed doing them. I have a problem with orthostatic hypotension. I get dizzy and can almost pass out if I get up too quickly from the couch. I have actually passed out twice from doing this. I didn't have this problem before the weight loss. I am going to go to my doctor once school is out and get a physical and see if there is a reason for this. I never had this problem when I did crossfit the first time.

Overall, it is fun to be back! Not sure what my regular days will be. Will just depend on what is going on with work/school/life!

Last Week

2011-03-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to another CFD workout. It was fun. :)

WOD:
AMRAP in 12 minutes
3 cleans
6 pull ups
9 box jumps

I wanted to do this workout because I have been dying to do pull ups for a while. :) I know....me want to do pull ups? Sounds crazy right? But I wanted to see what I could do. I ended up just doing the bar for the cleans. Legs were still weak from the previous two workouts. It was still challenging for me in the later rounds. I did the green band for the pull ups. And surprisingly, I was doing well at them. I managed to do most of them chest to bar. I could probably do a smaller band for a few of the pull ups, but not for the entire workout. And for the box jumps, I did the 12 inch box. I ended up doing step ups. I could do one or two actually jumping, but visions of Sandy falling over the box kept coming into my head. So I just did step ups.

I managed to do 6 full rounds, and finished my 3 cleans. Not too shabby for coming back. I hope to be able to do this workout again.

Now Phoenix and I are trying to figure out how I am going to pay/go to Crossfit. It still may have to wait until school is out, but I am glad that I got a taste back.

It's Been A Long Time Coming!

2011-03-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well my friends, I finally got to do a couple of Crossfit WODs. And let's just say.....I'm exhausted. Friday night, Phoenix had to work late. So I decided that I was not going to sit at home and wait for him. So I texted Mel, and decided to go for Friday's night class.

WOD:
3 rounds for time:
3 Power Cleans
3 Front Squats
3 Deadlifts
50 Double Unders

I knew going into this that it was not going to be the prettiest workout. Squats (especially Front squats) have been a weakness of mine. Power cleans and deadlifts I was not worried about. I ended up using 52# for the lifts. I know that I could have done more on the power cleans and deadlifts, but stupid front squats. I looked back, and 2 years ago I could do 100# on front squat, and now....half that. Kind of depressing. I had to substitute 2x for the double unders, but I finished in a decent time of 5:47. I didn't have to do any burpee penalties because I didn't let go of the bar. I was determined not to!

Saturday comes, and I am sore. It was a struggle to get out of bed. But I did. This workout was not fun. I did enjoy Friday's workout, but today. Ug. I really really did not like it at all. It wasn't that bad. I just came close to throwing up several times. And my legs were like jello.

WOD:
In 12 minutes with a partner (completing everything together with no separating out reps)
30 air squats
100m shuttle run
15 push ups
100m shuttle run

My partner and I were only able to complete 3 full sets.

Reading it, it isn't a difficult workout. I was having so many problems with the squats, and then combined with the extreme nausea....it just wasn't happening. :( I had to scale back the squats to 15 during my last set. I am sure that 98% of this was mental, but I just couldn't get it together.

After examining these past two workouts, I am left with conflicting emotions. I missed the training so much, but I feel like I am back at square one. True, I haven't been training in two years, but still is hard to see how much I have regressed. I hate feeling like the worst, and I am surrounded by all these women who are so much tinier than I am, and I feel like the fat kid back in elementary school. I have to keep reminding myself that I lost over 30 pounds over a year ago, and have kept every bit of that off. But I feel like I am at a crossroads. I want so much to come back, but I feel like I have no self confidence in myself. I truly hate not being good at something, and well....I am right back to where I started. And all my CF friends remember how good I used to be, and where I am now is no where near where I was back then. I feel that when I start coming back there will be added pressure on me to preform to where I was, not where I am now. I am just so conflicted. I want to go, but absolutely hate scaling back reps and weight because it makes me feel not good enough. Again, I know this is all mental, but it is hard to get through those emotions. And on top of everything else I have going on, it just seems like too much and I don't know what to do or where to go. :(

Happy New Year!

2011-01-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope that everyone had a great holiday! I have been working a lot and just enjoying being home with Phoenix. I worked on Christmas (by choice) and then we went to my parent's house the day after. We had a great lunch with my parents and met my mom's cousin from Michigan. He is a traveling nurse and just happens to be working at my hospital in a different unit. He seems nice, but was obviously uncomfortable when he found out that Phoenix was carrying his hand gun. Oh well.

I didn't expect anything from Phoenix since he doesn't really celebrate this holiday, but he surprised me. A few days after Christmas, I came home from work and there was a gift card to the App Store, which didn't make sense because I don't have an iPhone. So, I opened the card.....

Now, the phone is freaking amazing and I am trying to figure out how I EVER survived without it. LOL. But for me, the real present was just the fact that he called me the "Love of his Life". It is so amazing to have someone tell you that. :)

New Year's was quiet. We just had a nice dinner out and then came home and enjoyed the time just us. Would have been nice to have seen some friends, but he's my best friend, so I wouldn't have had it any other way.

It is less than 2 weeks before I begin my FINAL semester of nursing school! Ah! I am almost done with this hell that I have been in for the past 2 years. We can't wait!

I hope that everyone has had a great Holiday! And it is time to get back into the swing of things! It sounds like 2011 is going to be a great year!

Hiya!

2010-10-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

Hi there! I have missed you guys! Is the semester over yet for a reunion? Clinicals are going. I am bored in the most of the time. But, I guess that is the problem with having experience going into a field like this.

This past weekend, we went to a wedding. We had a pretty good time. The wedding was nice, just some things that we both agreed there were a lot of things that we would change. I included a couple of pics. :)

And I absolutely loved my dress! Phoenix picked it out. Wasn't the original one we picked out that was all black with lots of "bling" on it, but this one was just as gorgeous! I told him that since we have this nice fancy dress, that he has to find places for me to wear it! :)

Hope everyone is doing well! 206 more days until graduation!!!!! (Had to put that in there!)

Name that rhythm!

2010-09-19T07:27:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of updating, but as you all know, school is hard work! I have studied more than I have in a long time. But I am actually keeping up with the work! I think that I am going to enjoy this semester.

Something that is not being enjoyable about the semester is the girl I carpool with. We have grown apart since last semester. Problem is, she was my support system when I didn't have Phoenix, but he has become my support system now, and that kind of leaves her out of the picture. I have also discovered that we have pretty much nothing in common besides school. There are so many things that our viewpoints are so totally different, and not that that is a problem, but she doesn't even consider my viewpoint. It has gotten to where even talking about grocery shopping is stressful! I am so looking forward to moving so I don't have to carpool with her. And yes, I could just not carpool with her, but it saves me gas money every other week. So, worth it for the financial part, but not for the stressful part. :( I just don't know what to do. We even differ on parts of school. Thing is, I don't think she realizes how it stresses me (which is a good thing since we sit next to each other). It's just frustrating.

This week is my first test in Adult II, so hopefully it will go well. I have been studying like crazy for it, so I feel like I am prepared. We shall see! I hope everyone is doing well, and I miss you guys!

I Miss My Life

2010-09-02T06:43:00.000-07:00

Well...it is that time again! The beginning of a new semester! I have 3 clinicals this semester. Pediatrics, Adult II (Focus on critical care), and crazy people (AKA mental health). It will be an interesting semester. People are already complaining about this and that. I am not thrilled about some things that are going to happen this semester, but nothing I can do about it. I am going to TRY not to complain...that much. So far, I have managed to stay on top of things. Even though I have a 3 day weekend, I am going to spend as much as I can doing some school work. Maybe I will even take my books to the pool to study. :)

I have my pediatric clinical at Scottish Rite. Adult at Parkland. Psych at Millwood (which is all the way in ARLINGTON! UGH!)

I am actually really happy about the clinical at Parkland. Our instructor is giving us a TON of freedom! I am able to go into a patient's room and give them medication without him or a nurse present. That is a big deal! Granted, we have to fulfill other requirements too, but still, yay for autonomy!

Since I have a Saturday clinical....ick right?....I won't be able to attend the free Crossfit WOD's. :( This really has me sad, because I was looking forward to it. But, what am I to do? Have to get through school. I will probably start my elliptical work beginning this weekend. Need to have notes to read before I can do it!

Hope to see you guys sometime!

VACAY!

2010-08-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

Since I am in triage doing nothing....I figured I would update you with my vacation! :)

Friday, we went to Turner Falls in Davis, Oklahoma. It was so pretty there! We went hiking and then played in the Falls. I liked trying to find the cave. There were two ways to get in. One by crawling on your abdomen or going down rocks. I chose the rock way. I did not feel like getting covered in dirt, especially when I was already covered in sweat. I was very proud of Phoenix. He does not like going in water where he can't see the floor or he doesn't know what is in the water. So, I was very proud that he went in the water. He is never going to let me live in down that he did that, but that's ok. :) Oh, and there was this GIGANTIC hill that we had to climb to begin looking for the cave. Yeah....it was not the easiest one, but since we are crossfitters...well, it still sucked, but it was manageable!

After we left Turner Falls, we went to the town of Duncan (this is the closest place that had a hotel chain where we were able to get a free night). We went to this bistro called Peyton's Place, which the food was not very good. Phoenix found a hair in his food! Gross! We had planned for this to have been a fun date night......but as it turns out, there is NOTHING to do in Duncan! So, we decided to go to Wal-Mart, buy a movie and ice cream, and have date night in our hotel room. We ended up getting IRobot. Turned out to be a pretty decent movie! Ok, well, there was something to do in Duncan. We could have gone to the Casino, but I just bought a cute new shirt, and we didn't want to leave there smelling like smoke.

Saturday, we went to Wynnewood to go to the Exotic Animal Memorial Park! This was sooo much fun! It is kind of like a zoo, but they rescue animals. They have over 1400 big cats there! Some have been rescued from circuses, zoos, or other animal sanctuaries. We were able to walk around and look at everything. We paid the extra bit to go back to the back for a personal tour. At the end of the tour, we got to play with a baby tiger!!! Six (tiger's name) is 18 days old! He was the cutest thing ever! I did not want to let him down! We got to play with him for about 30 minutes and take pictures! Cubs can only be handled by direct human contact until they are about 12 weeks old. After that, they aren't supposed to be treated like "pets" and you aren't allowed to touch them. (Or at least that is what our tour guide said!)

It was such a great first vacation! I look forward to many more!

Trauma Drama!

2010-08-15T05:48:00.000-07:00

Well, as I sit here in the Trauma Pod (aka Trauma Drama), I figured I would sit down and write a quick blog.

Now, usually, there is Drama in the Trauma Pod (hence the reason I have so lovingly called this area, Trauma Drama), but Friday, I had some drama in Meadows (the fast track part of the ER where they see sprained ankles and colds, easy stuff). So, I am sitting at my computer, minding my own business, when some lady comes up and is like, "I am the mother of the patient in room #, and I looked at the computer and he does not have 'Cold Like Symptoms'. He has ........(lists off his symptoms). Needless to say, she was not happy. I responded to her and was like, ok, I will let the nurse know. She didn't seem to like that answer, but then went back to her room. (Oh, and did I mention that her son was like 30 something?) She comes back out a few minutes later, and wanted to know is she could speak to him again. So, I asked her, "Who is he?" in my helpful voice (Since I have 3 men working up in that area at that time, I really didn't know who "he" was. And I wanted to make sure that I got the right person.) She was like "I don't know his name, he didn't tell me." So, I told her that I would go and check and tell "him" to come back and speak with her. I went back and talked the doctor who was on the phone, and let him know that she wanted to speak with "him" again. I go back to the patient's mother, and updated her on what I did. And she asked who he was, and I said, "Oh, it was Dr. So & So." Then she was all rude and was like "See, you knew who he was the entire time". Grr...people just frustrate me. But oh no, it doesn't end there! After I brought back a new patient, she is at the front desk asking for the Chief of Staff's number (which we don't know), and everyone's supervisor (the nurse let her know that she will have the clinical supervisor come up and visit with her). She then asks the nurse for the name of the "blonde girl who sat at that computer's name" (meaning me). Then she turns around and looks at me, and is like "What is your name?" So, of course, I give it to her.

Anyway, the clinical supervisor comes up and speaks to her, and apparently the woman was upset because she thought that EVERYONE was rude to her and that we were not taking her son seriously because they have medicare. Ug. People just irritate me! Even though she will complain against me (I am guessing because I asked who "he" was....), I won't get in trouble. I got to tell my side of the story, the clinical supervisor wrote up the incident, and she was like, don't worry, I know you don't have attitude so you aren't in trouble. I don't care that people complain, I just don't like it when I didn't do anything wrong. Also, I don't want this to look bad since I want them to hire me. But my supervisor told me not to worry, so I am not. I just have to remember to not ask people "Who is he?" LOL.

Yesterday, we did our weekly errands and I got a really cute haircut. I hope to get some pictures posted soon. :) I also think that I will soon be starting a cooking blog since everyone keeps asking for my recipes. Phoenix and I are working out all the details. But I will keep everyone updated. :)

Well, time for my day to begin in "Trauma Drama"! :)

Ok, here is a REAL update!

2010-08-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the quick updates. Truth is, I haven't been in the writing mood recently. I would come on here to start, and then would be like I don't feel like it. But I feel like it today!

So, since the CHL, I have pretty much been doing the same thing I have been doing all summer. Working, tanning, reading, cooking, cleaning, and other everyday stuff! Carrie and I had a girls' pool day, and it was fun! She finally got to try some of my home cooked goodies, and loved them. :) I wish that our nursing class would have come up with the idea to do a cookbook for a fundraiser. That would have been sweet. People could have submitted recipes that don't take too long to make, and everyone could have really benefited, but oh well. They didn't. (This is what happens when I don't get elected Secretary...just saying! LOL).

I am ALMOST finished with Atlas Shrugged. Just about 200 pages to go. But I have been also finished Dear John and My Sister's Keeper. Both great books. I needed something to do while I was at work in TRIAGE (did I ever mention how much I hate triage?). But yes, in two weeks, I was able to finish two books. Yay! Now to just finish Atlas before school starts.

As you know, my biological father (the one who lives in Oklahoma) has not been too crazy about me dating Phoenix (only because Phoenix is an atheist). Well, a few weeks ago, I got a 7 page letter from him in response to my facebook posting. Long story short, he says that he can not support my relationship with Phoenix, and that he prays for me every night. He also had several low blows about my mom, and just how can I claim to be a moral person if I don't go to church? I mean, if we want to get into the subject of morality here, I wasn't the one buying my 15 year old brother tobacco and alcohol. Or I wasn't the one who when my brother chased me around the house with knives turned a blind eye to it all. I have never claimed to be perfect, but I am trying my best to live my life in a moral way. I am going to be responding to his letter, and I will be sending Atlas Shrugged with the letter. It has been ranked (depending on which list you look at, I was referred to a USA Today posting) the second most influential book. (The Bible was number 1). Well, for a philosophy such as objectivism (still trying to come up with my own definition) to be such a horrible thing, why is this book so popular? So, like I said, I will be mailing my letter with this book, in hopes that he will read it and try to understand the morals and principles that he (and the ones that I am agreeing with) live our lives by.

This past weekend, we bought my motorcycle gear! I love my jacket! It fits like it is a second skin. I am so glad that when I wear the jacket, I no longer look like a linebacker! My helmet won't be in until the end of the month since the style I want is very popular. My gloves should be in this week or early next. But I have my jacket and my awesome shoes! :) Phoenix and I have matching shoes. Except his have a red stripe, and mine have a white strip. It is so cute! Yes yes...I know. We are disgustingly cute. But we are okay with being "That couple". LOL. I will post pics when I have all my gear on. It was funny, Phoenix told me that my equipment is officially better than his! Hehe...that's because I have good taste! I also think that since I don't have a bike, he is going to slowly let me ride his a bit. But since the bike is his baby, it is taking a while. And that's ok. So far, he has agreed to let me sit on the bike. Baby steps. But before you know it, I will be riding around the parking lot!

Plans for this week are hopefully to go look at new apartments in Las Colinas. I think I have already found the one I want, we just need to go see it in person, and put a deposit down! Will update you guys when I have further information!

OK....enough for now. Time to make another new recipe!

Boom some more!

2010-08-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

Phoenix and I finished our Concealed Handgun License class last night! We took the 10 hour classroom session on Saturday, and then took our qualifier last night. It was very exciting! We are sending the paper work in tomorrow and then we are fully qualified to carry a gun! :) I know, not the most feminine thing, but who ever thought of me as the girliest of girls?

Other than that, I am just enjoying the last month off of school. I am ALMOST finished with Atlas Shrugged! Fantastic book! :) I am working a few days a week, and then work on trying out new recipes. I made a carrot cake from scratch yesterday, and I was quite impressed! Tonight, I am trying out lasagna for the first time! Wish me luck! :)

BOOM!

2010-07-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well, this past week has been fun! I got my motorcycle license on Wednesday from DPS! I only missed two on the test. Not bad. I will take it. :)

Had two fun shifts at work. I got to do my first NG tube (which is where I stick up a tube down a patient's nose, and it goes into their stomach to decompress the stomach). It was soooo easy! My nurse was like, this is not the norm. Usually the patient gags, or throws up. But this guy was so understanding about the whole procedure. Made for a good experience. Oh, and then a different patient wrote on a comment card what a good job I did, and how sweet and nice that I was. :) Those things count! They look at those when raises are being handed out.

Saturday, we saw Inception. Seriously, go see it. It was amazingly awesome! :) Don't want to say too much in case you haven't seen it, but it worth the money.

Sunday: Fun fun fun! My stepdad bought some Tannerite (which is a small explosive) and we put them in some stuffed animals, and well....we blew them up. :) We had so much fun! Just the look of excitement on my stepdad's face, was worth everything. We will be geting out concealed hand gun licenses on the 31st, so more gun shooting for us!

Vroom Vroooom Vrooom

2010-07-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

So, if you haven't been on facebook in a few weeks, you would have missed the part where I was going to take a motorcycle class! Well, that class was this past weekend, and it was fun! So, I will give the shortened version of my weekend.

Friday:
I first walk into class, and some guy is like, "Are you Amy Reid?". I was like...."yes....let me guess, I am the only girl in the class?". Yep. I was the only girl, with 9 guys. If I was single, I would have REALLY liked my odds! Hehe. Anyway, the teacher tells me to sit at the table with Dean. So, I did. Later, another guy named John sat down with us. We watched some video, and then we were assigned questions to look up in the book, and then we read the answers out loud. No biggie right now.

Saturday:
Day began at 0700! They introduced us to our bikes, and we got to sit on them first. (And enjoyed some nice drizzle and humidity.) We eventually got to turn the bike on....exciting! However, I have never driven a standard vehicle in my life, so this whole clutch and shift thing....brand new. I probably stalled the bike at least 30 times on Saturday. We had to Power Walk (basically you walk the bike while it is in first gear) the bike for about a quarter of a mile. (Now, also remember that my bike weighs about 300 pounds.) So, that took FOREVER and a day. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally got to ride! It was so much easier than I thought. I loved it. Even though I was only going like 5 mph. Still fun! We started adding on more skills. I started weaving in and out of cones, and taking turns, and leaning with my turns. During one of the exercises, I had a question so I went to stop the bike, grabbed the front brake way too hard when my tire was turned, and fell off the bike and broke part of the bike handle. Yep...I broke the bike. (Funny thing is, I kept joking around with Phoenix that I was going to fall, break the bike, and die. He kept saying that I wouldn't, that I would be fantastic). Well, I didn't die, but I did fall and break part of the bike's handle bar. Oops. Well, I was so embarrassed. That was the worst part. I wasn't hurt, but just the embarrassment was horrible. After that, the guys were all being so sweet and telling me the stories of their first crashes. Made me feel a little better. The last exercise of the day was doing two U-turns in a row. I hated that! I was so horrible at it. :( But I started to get better at the end. After that, we broke for lunch and then had a couple more hours of class to get through, and then had to take the writing portion of the class. My table passed with 100s. It was a pretty easy test, but it was good for some encouragement. By the time I got home, I was exhausted and laid on the couch for a few hours. Riding takes a lot out of you!

Sunday:
Back to "The Range" (that's what they call the area where we practice in) at 0700. Such a beautiful day already. No rain clouds in sight, had a great breeze. It was going to be a good day. Started the day off with turns and cornering. OH, and we had to ride over "obstacles", i.e. a 2x4 plank. That was fun! I got to lead that exercise. You have to come off of the seat a little bit and use your legs as shock absorbers. I did this exercise perfectly. Maybe riding horses when I was little finally paid off for something! We ended the day by taking a riding test. (You have to pass both the written and the riding to get your certificate in order for you to go to DPS to take another writing test to get your license).

There were a few skills on the test. The first one we did was the two U-turns in a row. F*ck! I hate this skill. After the U-turns you have to swerve to avoid an obstacle going at least 15 mph (doesn't sound like much, but it feels like a lot when you first start out). I was the last one to go for every skill. I did my U-turns without crossing the lines of the box or putting my foot down (which was perfect) and get out of my swerve and all the guys clap for me. :) Next skill.....quick stop. Damn those stops! I "anticipated" the stop (which you weren't supposed to do), so I had to do it again. I thought I did well. I didn't fall or anything, and I remembered to downshift to first like I was supposed to. Now, for the last skill. Cornering. I felt pretty comfortable with corning. The first corner we had to take was a 90 degree one, then you had a 130 degree corner. The point was to be able to adjust your speed before going into the turn. Oh, and for this part you had to make it under 3 seconds for the 130 degree turn. I went for my attempt, and I got called over halfway through my turn. Uh oh. :( Well, I didn't understand where the cones were set up. Which is ok, because I wasn't the first. It was confusing how they had the cones lined up. And they were like, it's ok, you could fail this and still pass (They saw how upset I was.) That was nice, but I still wanted to do well. So, I went back and proceeded along the correct path. And then I went to park my bike.

Everyone in my class passed! And then they read aloud our scores. Only one guy got a perfect score of 0 (they counted deductions as points, and you had to get under 21 to pass). Preston (one of the coaches) finally gets to me. He is going through each skill. Perfect on the U-turns, perfect on the swerve, perfect on the quick stop breaking, 3 points off on the turn because I took 19 hundreths of a second too long. (You were supposed to take it in under 3 seconds, but I took it in 3.19. Oh well. And I got the second best score!! Kind of funny, the person with the least experience got almost the highest score. I have good technique! Dean and John said that they were wanting me to do well more than they were worried about themselves doing well. They were so happy for me. :)

Everyone keeps asking me what kind of bike I want to get. I really have no idea. I don't even know when we will get me a bike. Phoenix is going to outfit me in all new gear once I get the license. He has also said that if we can find a good deal on a bike, he will buy it, and I can pay him back when I graduate and get a job and start making money on a consistent basis. Which is pretty cool, but I am a little cautious about that. A bike could be about $4K, so it will be something that we discuss. But, don't you worry! I will get my own bike soon! :) And will be practicing A LOT on it before I even get on the highway!

Facebook Blog

2010-07-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Interesting past few days. I have posted a HUGE note on my facebook page trying to get the world up to speed about a few things. Since I went into detail there, I won't bore you guys with it here. But I feel so much better getting those things off of my chest. And I just wanted to thank you guys for adding value to my life! Love you!

Holiday weekend!

2010-07-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Weekly update! :)

This week has felt like it went on and on! And it seems like last Monday was so long ago, I can barely remember what I did. Maybe I am getting old at 25. Oh well.

Phoenix had Friday and Monday off, but of course, I worked both days. That's fine, he needed the time off to relax.

Saturday: We just did our weekly grocery shopping trip. We had made plans to go to Kaboom town, but of course...the weather wanted to rain. So instead, we had a nice quiet evening at home. I made homemade fajitas, shared a vanilla fruit tart from La Madeline, and watched James Bond (he picked out the movie...of course).

Sunday: Where to begin with this day? For our friends BBQ, I was supposed to bring a fruit and a dessert, which of course was going to be my awesome banana split cake. Well, I go to get the fruit prepared and sliced, and the kiwi's aren't ripe nor are the peaches. Grr...so frustrating. I finish the fruit salad, and then go to make the banana split cake. This time, I was trying to make it healthier, so I was going to use fat free cream cheese. Yeah....that didn't work out so well. Instead of being creamy and yummy, it was chunky. Word to the wise, never use fat free cream cheese and powdered sugar. The result is not yummy and creamy. Phoenix saved the day, and went to the store and bought me the reduced fat kind, which turned out beautifully. When we got to our friends' house, turns out, they burned the ribs. So, it wasn't just me that had a bad cooking day yesterday. The food was yummy, and I had a few glasses of homemade sangria...yum. And then some pool time. We tried to all go out to a firework show, but couldn't find one in the area online. So, we left, and I was kinda disappointed that I wouldn't get to see fireworks this year, but driving home we saw some go off in the distance. So, I pulled into a school parking lot, and we went and sat on some bleachers and watched the end of the show. A great end to an interesting holiday weekend. And then I get home, and pass out. :)

And so today begins another week. I only have to work one day this week, and then have the rest of the week to clean my old place. Friday begins my motorcycle lessons! :) And then I plan on next week going home to Greenville during the day, get my car inspected and pass my written test for my motorcycle license! Then....it is new jacket and helmet time! Can't wait! :) Hope everyone has a great week!

A New Week

2010-06-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, we had totally made plans to go to Crossfit. But he didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning, and was too tired. So, I was like, I am going to go work out. I went to LA Fitness near our place because it was close and I had a list a mile long that I had to do. I went to a kickboxing cardio class. Yeah....that will be the last time I ever go to one of those classes. It was horribly boring. I don't know what would make me think that I would have a good time. I sometimes question what goes on in my head. OH well. LESSON LEARNED!

This past week has been and up and down week. We had a bump in the relationship. Wouldn't even really call it a fight. Something had been bothering him, and he just didn't know how to express it. So, instead of telling me what was wrong, he bottled it all up inside. I hate it when guys do that. Why can't they be more like us? Anyway, his problem was that I was "not the typical body type he goes for". Which, well, fuck. That means more dieting for me. I am glad at least he realizes how far I have come. I am doing the best I can, and by no means am I a cow. So, I see tons more salad in my future. The good thing is, he did say that he will still come to crossfit with me to help motivate me. And of course, after he gets all of this off his chest, it seems like our relationship is so much better. :)

Well, it is off to work in a bit. Hope everyone has a great week!

I'd Rather Hurt Than Feel Nothing At All....

2010-06-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

This week has been fun...I think. LOL. It has been a long week. Worked 30 hours at the hospital this week. Ended up hurting my wrist pushing tubs of lard (Ok, not really tubs of lard but patients that weighed between 400 & 500 pounds!) So, doing the workout today was kinda tough.

The WOD was a variation of Fight Gone Bad in North Park Mall. I thought it was a lot of fun doing a workout in the mall. Not something that we get to do everyday. There were 8 stations:

Row
Plank
Mountain Climbers
Kettlebell Swings
Air Squats
Sit ups
Burpees
Rest

We did each station twice. Somehow, I got confused in the heat and ended up skipping a row. Oh well. Still had fun, and I think I got a good workout. The Mountain Climbers and Burpees killed my wrist. I am not much of a complainer about pain, so I don't mind that. It just really hurt when you have to support all your weight on your wrists. Oh well. I have my wrist in an ACE wrap (Phoenix helped).

Oddly enough, I missed having Phoenix there with me. And yes, I understand that we live together, and see each other every day (well, the few hours he is home at night after work). But with him there, I push myself just a little harder because I want him to be impressed with all I can do with Crossfit. Not that you ladies don't push me as well, you do. I don't know. Guess I just like having him around. :)

It was of course great seeing you again Carrie! We will need pool time too! Jamie, you are looking great! Good job on the In House Challenge! Thank you ladies for always being there for me! I am so lucky to have such great friends! (And Lindsey, if you are reading this too, you are awesome! We will be back to Deep soon!)

School's Out For the Summer!!!!

2010-06-04T15:58:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been a while since my last post. Sorry about that guys. Not that I haven't wanted to post, just haven't had much to say. I missed Crossfit last Saturday because I had to work in the morning. And I feel like I am getting a workout with all of this moving that I am doing. Going up and down my three flights of stairs, and then going up another set of stairs when I get to Phoenix's place. Granted, I realize it is not the same. But it will have to do for now.

Today I went to yoga. Yay yoga! I have missed it over the past few weeks. I always mean to go, but then one thing or another gets in the way. I really want to go to Crossfit tomorrow, but I am not thinking that I am going to make it. Phoenix and I are both working on Sunday. He has a another project that is supposed to go live a week from Monday. And the team is not where they need to be. So, he will need to relax a bit on Sunday before he starts a 6 day work week with 10-12 hour shifts. Then he is leaving Friday to go back home to Michigan for his sister's graduation. He had originally planned to go back on the bike, but it just won't work out. So, instead of us doing our errands on Sunday like we normally do, we will be doing them on Saturday.

Oh, we set a date for me to go back to Michigan to meet his parents and family. His little brother Sam recently got engaged, and his parents are throwing an engagement party in August, and so we will be going. Yay! I am wicked nervous. Granted, I know they will love me, but I can still be a little nervous.

On a different note, I am planning on going to the CFDC mall workout. It just seems like fun to go do a crossfit workout in the mall. Anyone else going so I am not all alone? :) Hope everyone has been having a good week and you are enjoying this nice weather and getting some pool time in!

Busy Busy weekend

2010-05-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

I am sorry to report that I didn't make it to the Crossfit Deep WOD this past Saturday. We were running a bit late, and by the time we actually made it to Deep, there was no more parking, and we didn't have any money to pay for parking. So, we drove all the way down there for nothing. :( I was very sad to have missed the WOD, so upset, that I actually cried. I look forward to this every weekend, and was disappointed to have missed it. After a few minutes, I got over it, and had to get ready for game night!

Game night was awesome! Carrie gets along great with Phoenix already, but I was little nervous about everyone coming together since there were 2 new couples that Carrie and Kason haven't met yet. But everyone got along great! Carrie made this fantastic Tres Leches cake, and Scott baked two cherry pies. Yum! If you haven't seen the pics from game night, they are on my facebook.

Sunday, we went to the zoo, and it was fun! I love seeing all the animals. While it is fun, I have an internal struggle with the fun of seeing all these great animals, and the saddness that they are being caged and not having the free area to run around. It's a very fun internal struggle. I like that it makes me think. I know, I am weird like that.

Oh, in other news, in case you didn't know, I am moving in with Phoenix. Yep. I know that it hasn't been that long, but with my lease ending next month, figured it was a good time. And it is an easy transition. I have less than 2 months now, and I get to move stuff gradually so neither one of us gets too overwhelmed. Oh, and yesterday, he told me that he loved me for the very first time. Not trying to get all "high school girl" like, but he's the best thing (minus crossfit of course! LOL!) that has happened to me in a while. Right now, I don't think anything could bring me down from this high! :)

Another one in the books!

2010-05-19T04:58:00.000-07:00

Another semester ended last week. I wish that I was able to do better, but I passed all my classes with good grades, but my 4.0 went bye bye. :( Oh well. I am much better balanced this time around, that making a couple B's, well, that can be the price to pay to be happy.

WOD for 5-15-10 at Crossfit Deep:
Every 3rd minute for 15 minutes
Run 200m
Burpees
Air Squats

This WOD was done with a partner. One person does burpees with the other does air squats. Phoenix was my partner (like you were going to guess otherwise?). There were 5 rounds total. I told him that I would do 3 rounds of burpees and he could do only 2 rounds. He still gets really sore after the workouts, so I was just trying to make him less miserable so he keeps coming. He did really well. He got 100 reps total, while I only managed to squeak out 78 (but to my defense, I did have to do 3 rounds of burpees and he got to do more of the easy air squats).

Then after the WOD, we took showers at the box. (Deep has REALLY nice showers! They even have soap and shampoo!) And then went to see my parents for my birthday. It was a great birthday weekend. Way too much food that didn't even resemble anything close to Paleo. Oh well.

Started Maymester on Monday. This class is over next Friday, so it shouldn't be too bad. Other than that....getting ready for GAME NIGHT!!!

I Can See Clearly Now....

2010-05-12T15:52:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the end of the Spring 2010 Semester. I passed all my classes. And honestly, this is the worst I have ever done. Made it out with 3 B's and 2 A's. But yay! I passed! I am so glad this semester is over. It really was the semester from hell! I begin Maymester on Monday (Which happens to be my birthday, so not looking forward to going to school on my birthday, oh well). I am taking my elective, which will be Spanish For Health Care Professionals. Granted, it will be useful, just don't want to take it. Hopefully it won't be that bad.

So, this past Saturday, we all went to CrossFit Deep. :) It was a really FUN workout! We did tabata box jumps, kettle bell swings, and tire flips. We did this in 3 teams. I got total 169 reps between box jumps and Kettle bell swings. Not bad, but my team was unable to pull out the win. But still lots of fun! Hopefully the one on Saturday will be just as fun!!

Better Late Than Never?

2010-05-06T05:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this past Saturday Phoenix and I went to CFDC. Carrie wanted us to come with her so, we did. I swear, burpees follow this girl around! Both times we have worked out with her, the workouts involved burpees. But anyway...on to the WOD.

WOD
10 minutes:
5 burpees on the minute
wall balls

There were a TON of people at CFDC. Phoenix and I ended up doing dumbbell thrusters (so did Carrie and her partner). Well, burpees pretty much kill me. I did all 50 of the freaking burpees, but only managed to get 30 thrusters. (Phoenix only got 22...hehe I beat him). Totally felt the soreness in the arms 2 days later. Even though, I hate them...still a love-hate relationship. Wait, no, I lie. There is no love when it comes to burpees. Just a hate relationship. Worked a little bit on pullups without a band. Still only able to get about halfway up, but for not having worked on pullups since last year, I am pleased with that. And Phoenix really likes CrossFit Deep a lot better, so it looks like that is where we will be going! :)

This week has been hell week at school. Had two finals on Monday, a regular test yesterday, and then a HESI practice test today. And then two finals next week. The week after that starts Maymester. Ug. I have to go to school on my birthday. How depressing is that? Grrr.... Oh well.

Well, off to test and work. I am so ready for the WOD on Saturday!!!!

Ready Set Shoot!

2010-04-26T17:27:00.001-07:00

Another workout at Crossfit Deep this past Saturday. I am loving getting back into the Crossfit regimen again. Sarah and David were unable to make it this past weekend, but Phoenix and I still went. And Carrie came! It was great working out with her again. This was a fun WOD, granted, I am weird so I thought it was fun, yet exhausting!

WOD:
3 rounds with 1 minute at each station:
SDHP with kettlebells
Burpees (Ok...not so much fun)
Jumping Air Squats (Did some regular air squats, Eric said that if we were tired to do regular air squats to get more reps in)
Ab Mat Sit Ups
Rest

I ended up getting 205 reps total. My strengths were the sit ups and the SDHP. I used the 26# KB for the SDHP. Another lift that I have greatly missed. It was great that Eric and Koy FINALLY came back! I am really happy that Koy was there. When we were doing the SDHP, Koy helped Phoenix with his technique, which we really didn't get that help when Koy wasn't there. Eric also motivated us on the burpess and jumping squats. I realize that when all the coaches aren't there it is more difficult to help everyone with their form, so it was wonderful to have that critique again.

Phoenix still isn't 100% sold on CrossFit, but I am thinking that if I keep bringing him, he will come around. I am just happy that he comes, even if it is just for me. I think his score was 175ish. When we were finally able to start breathing again, we went to Cafe Brazil for breakfast/lunch. I had some yummy crepe with chicken and spinch and also tried part of Carrie's Egg Sandwich, which was quite yummy too! Then, we HAD to introduce Carrie to our latest obsession...YOGURTLAND! Seriously....one of the best things to come around in who knows how long. Phoenix and I have made it our mission to convert all of our friends to the wonderfulness of Yogurtland. So far, we are 3 for 3! After our mini crossfit reunion....I think we all need to go to Yogurtland....any takers?

Getting back into the swing of things

2010-04-17T15:53:00.001-07:00

Today was our second Crossfit workout. (And by our, I mean the 4 of us). This was a pretty fun, and tiring WOD. We partnered up in teams of two, and then had to complete:

400m run
Air Squats
300m run
Push Ups
200m run
Kettle Bell Swings
100m run
Wall Balls

Each run and a movement had a time frame associated with it. After you and your partner ran the 400m, then you had the rest of 5 mintues to do Air Squats. The push ups was 4 minutes, kettlebell swings 3 minutes, and wall balls for the remainer of the 2 minutes. This was more fun than it sounds. I partnered with Sarah (David's wife). I debated on partnering with her or with Phoenix. I probably would have gotten a better workout with Phoenix (Sarah is not the best runner, and she had to walk for some of it...a lot more than I would have). The thing is, you couldn't start the movement until you both finished the run. So, I went a lot slower than I should have, but I didn't want to leave Sarah all by herself. I really want them to enjoy Crossfit, so, I chose to jog in place and wait for her to catch up to me. It also doesn't help that I am almost a foot taller than her, and I have much longer strides. Which is why it probably would have worked out better my partnering with Phoenix since we are both so much taller than Sarah and David...but oh well. :) I still had a great time. On the other three runs, I actually did run faster than her, I had to get some kind of workout in.

Hopefully they won't be so sore tomorrow, but we are having such a good time coming to CrossFit Deep! So, the plan is to come next week!

Oh....and Lindsey....so great seeing you!!!! I am so glad that you got to meet Phoenix!

I have missed this pain!

2010-04-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I must say, that I have truely missed this type of pain. On Saturday, I took Phoenix and his two friends (Sarah and David) to experience the love of Crossfit. We went to Crossfit Deep (was hoping to see Koy and Lindsey, but they were probably taking a rest day). We did a really fun team workout. There was a 12 minute clock, and we had 3 different activities to do with a built in rest. One person would run, the other would rest, then wall ball, and then Kettlebell swings (I really did miss the KB swings!). The way the WOD was scored was you kept track of how many your team did for the KB and wall balls. Now, since I have been out of the crossfit style workout for a bit, I went lighter than I normally would have. I only used the 6# Wall ball, and the 18# KB. The run wasn't that bad. It was only 200m.

I think we scored around 391 or something like that. Not a fantastic score, but I was so proud of my people. One, they actually came to a crossfit workout. Two, they finished their first workout. And Three, they did not puke. Granted, they said that they felt like puking, but hey....who doesn't feel that way after crossfit sometimes? Sarah and Phoenix really enjoyed it, and I think that we will start becomming regulars at the free Saturday workout. I still don't have the money to commit to it sadly. :( However, I am very grateful for the free workouts and that Sarah wants to do it once a week with me. So, woo hoo for starting to become more regular! Granted, this means that I will have to give up my Saturday yoga....but I think I can live with that!

Personal life update: Phoenix was interviewing for a job in North Carolina, which would have made me depressed if he got it, however.....he was offered a job at this company in Irving. He is pretty sure that he is going to take it, which makes me very happy! The whole North Carolina thing has been looming over us, which has not let us become more serious or "official", so this should make things easier for us, and I can finally stop worrying if he is going to leave. Both jobs are a great opportunity for him, but the one in Irving just means that he doesn't have to move, which all of us like.

Diet after WOD yesterday: Well, thankfully, the 4 of us are pretty health conscious. (Granted, Phoenix and I still love the bad carbs...but we try to limit them.) We all went to Sarah and Davids, and had yummy scrambled eggs with chives and some kind of cheese. And Sarah made us some type of "paleo pancakes". (Sarah is actually doing the Paleo diet....she is already a crossfitter, just didn't know it yet). Anyway, the pancakes...wow....so good. I will have to get the recipe and post it. They were made with almond flour, ricotta cheese (not sure if that is actually paleo or not, but it worked), lemon, and an egg. (maybe there were more ingredients...I was in charge of making the eggs.) We topped them with strawberries and sugar free syrup. Yum.

Ok, all this talk about food is making me hungry! Guess I better go and wake Phoenix up and cook breakfast. We are PLANNING on coming to this Saturday's WOD...so, hopefully, we can repeat this amazing soreness all over again!

A much needed update!

2010-04-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Well, I hope all is well with you guys! Just a brief update. School still sucks. I hate it. Some days, the only thing that keeps me going is the big picture for when I get out of school.

Weight loss update: Almost 30 pounds. BMI is 23!

Boy update: The guy I was seeing in January...no more. Turned out to be a flake. New guy....is amazing. Someone who is the complete opposite of me, which is kinda fun. We have been dating for a month, and I like how things are going. Oddly enough, he met my mom after the third date....it's a funny story....remind me to tell you about it one day.

I am thinking we need to have a get together sometime soon!

Exhausted!

2010-01-29T05:42:00.000-08:00

Well, weight loss for this week didn't go well. Lost only a pound. But, a pound is a pound!

On another note. I had a great first date with a new guy yesterday. He is so sweet, and I could really like him, but will have to see. We met at a coffee shop, then went to Gloria's, and then back to his place. He went and got this coconut pineapple ice cream, and fed it to me. And then of course some talking and maybe some making out. :)

He is an aerospace engineer. Which is different than I am used to, being that he is not in the medical field. But we seem to really hit it off, and he wants to see me again. :) Only bad thing is, he lives in Arlington. Which it isn't a bad drive. So, hopefully, we will see how it goes!

I survived!

2010-01-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

First week of nursing school is over and done! Wow...so much work and it is just the first week. My friend Talia and I are trying to get ahead in our 3 online classes, which isn't very easy. But we are doing our best!

I did yoga yesterday, which was really nice. Helped relax me before I wrote two papers for two different classes. And then I have another blog post to do tonight when I get off of work.

Weight loss and diet has been going well. Weighed in this morning and I have lost another 6.82 pounds. :) My original weight loss goal was 20 pounds, but if I can get to 30, I think that I will be healthy. Not that I was "fat" before, but I needed to lose a few more pounds. Overall, I am really happy with the Medifast. I don't know if I will ever go completely off of Medifast, but may keep with the bars and stuff because they have all the protien and nutrients you need. Which is the only reason I am okay with doing this.

Current Weight: 81.5kg

6 Days In

2010-01-12T06:21:00.000-08:00

So, I am 6 days into the diet and I already weighed in. You are supposed to weigh in once a week, well, my weigh in day tomorrow is going to be spent at careflite, so I went ahead and weighed in a day early. Once I get into my routine, weigh in will be either Friday or Saturday, depending on where I work. I am wanting to use the same scale, which is one at work that I know should be accurate. So, in 6 days, I lost 2.2kg, which is 4.84 pounds. Not bad for 6 days.

Oh, and on another note, I am still sore from that workout on Saturday. I will probably be going back to him on Saturday. Or actually go to the yoga class that I wanted to go to. :)

Current weight: 84.6 kg

Orientation is over!

2010-01-10T09:34:00.000-08:00

So, all last week, I had orientation. Sitting through people talk about "The Promise" and our mission, values, and all that good stuff. Then had modules and computer training Thursday and Friday, which is kinda funny if you think about it. I have been using this computer program since it came to Dallas, so I could practically teach the class. But I still had to go through it. Friday, I got to spend half the day on the ER floor. My first patient....grr...was a "Code Brown" (And I am not talking about the real code brown when there is a bomb/bomb threat). Not exactly how I wanted to start off my first time on the floor. I tried to do 3 different blood sticks, and missed every one. So, needless to say....my first day was not what I wanted. Oh, and how can I forget the morbidly obese person that I had to walk to the restroom, and then, she took her gown off and I had to hold it. Now, if you have never seen a morbidly obese person naked....it's not a pretty sight. I would have thrown up, but that would not have been polite.

We had to do a module on being sensitive to people who are obese (I am not talking about needing to lose 5-10 pounds). I can put on the best face in the world in person, but I always wonder how people let themselves get like that. Just makes me want to work harder on my diet.

Speaking of diet, things are going well. Will weigh on Tuesday to see about how much I have lost. We are supposed to weigh ourselves once a week. I started on Wednesday, but will have to adjust that until I get into a schedule with school and work. I haven't noticed a difference since the decreased caloric intake started. The oatmeal is really filling. I am having problems eating all 5 medifast meals in one day. I have yet to get that accomplished. Yesterday, I only ate 2 1/2. I tried the eggs, but I just can't eat eggs. I can do egg whites, but not the yolks. So, that is where the half came in. I will try to stomach them again next time, but it takes some work!

Day 1 of New Diet

2010-01-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

OK...so day one...not as hard as I thought. Maybe it was because when I looked in the mirror this morning, all I saw was this fat cow in teal scrubs (Let me tell you....teal is not my color).

I had my first Medifast meal of Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal. Actually, wasn't half bad. I was surprised. Now, with Medifast, you are supposed to eat every 2 hours because each meal is around 100 calories. But that oatmeal was so filling that I didn't eat until 11:45ish. So, I am already behind. Had a Medifast strawberry shake for lunch, which would have been much better if I had put it in a blender and mixed some ice with it. It was just too runny. Had a Medifast lemon bar around 4ish. Then had my Lean and Green meal around 7ish. I will do better tomorrow about eating all 5 Medifast meals and my Lean and Green. Hardest part is going into the cafeteria and smelling all the yumminess, and knowing that I can't have it for a while. And when I do get to have it, portions will be cut even smaller than I have done over the past year.

Starting weight: 86.8 kg

New Year!

2010-01-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

So sorry for not posting in a while. Holidays can get busy. This week, is yet another busy week! I have been doing orientation for Texas Health Presby Dallas yesterday and today. Tomorrow is another fun filled day of orientation, but more specific for my position and skills check offs.

Tomorrow, is another big day for me as well. I begin my new diet tomorrow. I have been doing fairly well with eating healthy and working out, but I feel like I have hit a plateau and need some kind of jump start to get back on track. I swore I would never do this, but a moment of weakness came over, and I am trying Medifast. Yeah, I know that it is probably not the best thing for me to do, but I need something to get me motivated, and pulling off pounds quickly is something that I want.

Medifast operates by you consuming very few calories a day. I think it is around 800-1000. Yeah...that's not a lot. You eat 5 Medifast meals a day, and then eat a "green" meal with some lean meat. I have read all the labels, and these meals are loaded with protein, fiber, and lots of vitamins. So, all I am cutting out is the calories. I figured I would try this for a month, and then see where I am.

I ate my last "meal" tonight. I will miss the bread. That sandwich was soooo yummy. And of course, the yummy baked potato soup. MMM....will miss that stuff. But I want my body to look like how I feel. And well...this is what I choose to do. I will be trying to post more about my progress.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year!

Winter Break

2009-12-18T06:04:00.000-08:00

Finals are over! I can breathe! I made it through all of my finals, and made all A's! :) I got the highest grade in my pharm class, which means I can do pharm tutoring next semester. It has been a long semester! Thank you guys for standing by me. It would have been more difficult without your love and support.

Orientation for my new job is on January 4th. :) I am not sure when I am doing my first CareFlite rideout, but that will be sometime in January as well. Like I said, it just feels like everything is falling into place!

Yesterday, I did a mile warm up, and then did CrossFit Deeps Push Press 3-3-3-3-3

Set was:
45 x 5, 50 x 3, 55 x 3, 65 x 3, 70 x 3, 75 x3, 80 x3

Almost didn't get that last one on the 80#, but I managed to lock it out! :)

Hope everyone is having a safe and happy Holiday Season! Don't eat too many cookies! :)

I Feel Like I Am Where I Am Supposed to Be

2009-12-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

Do you ever get that feeling that you are FINALLY where you are supposed to be? I had a horrible week last week, still don't know the results of the biopsy, but one day at a time. And today, have had such great news that it is freaking awesome!

Before I started nursing school, one of the nurse managers at Presby Dallas told me that when I finish my first semester of school to call her and they would try to get me a job. So, finals are next week, and I call her up. Today, I had an interview for a nurse extern position. Well, I got it! Funny thing is, they have to go and create the position (They have had them before, but don't really have a spot for me). They are going to email me when the job is posted, talk to HR and tell them that the job is for me! I get this job for 1.5 years (It's only until I finish nursing school). Then I apply for the internship, and then start working at Presby Dallas. They like to hire from within (hence the fact that I am getting a special job just for me and even if other people apply for it, they don't get it!) So, I have pretty much just got my ER job lined up for when I graduate school! I am the first person in my class to get an externship, and probably the only person to have a job lined up for when I get out! :) This takes sooo much stress off of me! I can just relax, and pass my classes now! :)

Sometimes, it feels like things aren't supposed to go your way for a reason. I much rather preferred an externship at Presby Plano, but the nurse manager there said she wasn't sure she could get it. Oh well. I got one anyway. Oh, and another thing that is great about PHD....I was talking to the nurse manager that I want to do CareFlite Nursing (You know, the nurses that ride around in helicopters and save lives....) and they have a way to help get me in with them. I have to be a nurse for 5 years before I can even apply, so I will be with them for a while, but they know the people and can get me on track with the right path and way to go about getting that dream a reality! So, even though I didn't get the place where I originally wanted to go, I guess everything works out for a reason, and I am where I am supposed to be!

Update

2009-12-04T06:53:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I posted, so here is a quick update.

Monday: Day before my presentation. Wow...getting nervous. So, I am running through my presentation with my partner, with NO ONE in the room...I start freaking out. Yeah...not a good sign. Hoping I will be able to make it through the next day!
Tuesday: Presentation day! Well, I didn't pass out or have a seizure. So that was a good thing. I gave my presentation twice. I ended up talking really fast and talking with my hands. But I got through it. It was all worth it. After the presentation, one of my classmates came up to me and told me that my presentation really touched him. He was already thinking about doing hospice care, but he really liked the idea of pediatric hospice, and he would love to do that. Dinner with my teachers was a lot of fun. It was nice to see them outside of school, and more like real people.
Wednesday: Had my assessment check off. It went smoothly. Passed with 100%. Then I went to the gym and did my pharm reading on the elliptical. It took me 40 minutes to read all the notes, but I did 3.07 miles while doing it.
Thursday: Had Concepts check off. For this checkoff, we had to draw a number out of a bowl, and then go perform a procedure. If you would have asked me two weeks ago what number I was going to draw, I would have told you Sterile Wet to Dry Dressing change. I even told my teacher I was going to pull that. And what do I pull? Sterile Wet to Dry Dressing change. So, I did my procedure, passed with 100%. Woo hoo! SO...I get home, and I get a call from my GYN and I am finally getting my results back on my pap smear. It's abnormal. I tested positive for HPV high risk. And if you know anything about HPV, it is a precursor for cervical cancer. So, yeah...I am kinda freaking out.
Friday: I go in after work for my biopsy. Kinda hard to sit here all day and not think about it. But hopefully everything will be okay. If I do have it, well, it will be easy to fix. But still scared. So, that's my update for the week. Hope everyone else is having a great day.

Exciting News!

2009-11-15T08:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, before I talk about my exciting news, updates on my workouts. Got busy, and couldn't make it to the gym as much as I wanted to this week, but what can I do? Life tends to get in the way. Still doing my fun elliptical work, here were my times

Monday: 24 minutes: 1.80 miles
Saturday: 25:55 Minutes: 2 miles
Sunday: 30 minutes: 2.17 miles, 100 sit ups, bench press, 45# x 10, 55# x10, 60#x10, 65# x6

Ok, so now for the fun stuff. So, every semester, TWU puts on a conference, and J1's can submit an abstract and get a chance to present at this conference. Well, my friend and I submitted an abstract and we got picked! 20 abstracts were submitted and only 5 are chosen. We are super thrilled! We are just excited about the perks of this! We get 5 free questions on both our Assessment and Concepts final, $25 gift card, some nursing handbook, and dinner with our instructors! Oh, and we don't have to participate in a different speaking assignment. Which both of our topics sucked balls and we didn't want to do them!

So, what is our topic? The topic is about pediatric hospices. I had the opportunity to visit one in Australia and it was one of the only things I remember from the medical aspect of the trip. This center touched me in a way that I can't even explain. So, yeah, I am really excited to be presenting on this topic. Interestingly enough, the idea hasn't taken off in the States. There isn't even one in Texas, and we are a HUGE state!

My presentation is on December 1. Which leaves me plenty of time to prepare and get over my fear of public speaking!

New Way to Study

2009-11-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

So, I have figured out the best way to study. Reading my notes on the elliptical. Since I have to study, and I have to workout to stay in shape, I figured I would give this a shot! AND it works! My friends think I am crazy because I am able to do this. I figured I can kill two birds with one stone, and it actually leaves me more time to study when I am at home and I feel less guilty. Granted, I don't get many crossfit type workouts in this way, but that's ok. I just started doing this about 4 days ago. And I have only missed one day. So, woo hoo!

Wednesday: Took me 28 minutes to do a little over 2 miles.
Thursday: 20 minutes to do 1.8 miles, then did an hour of Zumba dance class
Friday: didn't make it to the gym, had to babysit after work
Saturday: 30 minutes and 2.4 miles. Bench press: 45x 10, 55x 10, 65x8, 50 sit ups

I am going to try to keep an eye on my times and see how I am doing. I am obviously not going break neck speed, but I am keeping a comfortable working pace. Probably best described as a comfortable jog. The way I calculate the time is however long it takes me to read my notes. I would have been finished earlier today, but was texting a friend as well. Oh well, more time on the elliptical.

After my workout, I usually have a post workout shake. Which is made of strawberries, protein powder, almond butter (for fat source), and milk. It is actually really yummy! :)

Ok, something else I want to address. I wish I could tell me work friends this, but I can't, so I will rant to you guys. So, everyone is suddenly obsessed with losing weight. And they are all doing these fad diets. Yeah, they are losing about 8-10 pounds a week, but it is so unhealthy they don't even realize this! And these are NURSES! Of course you are going to lose weight, you are only consuming 500 calories, and your body is going through ketoacidosis, which is not good! Yes, you will lose weight, but what happens when you go off this diet and start eating real food again? (They have to buy the company they are doing it from the food that they sell and market). You are going to gain weight, and maybe gain more than you originally had! As far as I know, they are not exercising. Which is killing me! The best way to lose weight is to make smarter food choices and exercise. One bite of cake won't kill you. The whole cake will. One biscuit won't hurt. The whole can...no bueno. It's all about choices and portion control. I admit, I love ice cream. It is a weakness for me and I know this. So, the way I get around this is, one buying a lot fat ice cream, and two, only eating a spoonful of it, and then putting it away. I love life, and I don't want to not eat what I want to, but you have to be smart about it. Fad diets come and go, but smart choices.....those will last you a lifetime, and you can still enjoy the foods you love.

Ok..I am off my soap box now. Thank you and good night! :)

ZZZZ....

2009-10-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, as promised...I am posting a blog about sleep! Yep, sleep, something we all need, just don't seem to get enough of!

A little background on sleep. There are two major stages of sleep, NonREM and REM. NonREM sleep is when our metabolism, temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tone, and respirations decrease. REM sleep, is when we are dreaming. During this stage, our heart rate and respirations can increase and we have that Rapid Eye Movement from where the sleep stage gets its name. This is when we dream. Men can experience an erection (as well as women with clitoral engorgement), guess the are having sex dreams when this happens! LOL. REM is our restorative phase of our sleep and is very important.

Sleep is affected by so many of our daily activities. If you have a chronic lung disease, maybe asthma or COPD, you can be up all night due to shortness of breath or can't lay a certain way because it will affect your breathing, thus affecting your sleep. Or if you are in pain (maybe from doing a million sit ups, and then getting a new PR in back squat), you have more trouble sleeping.

Drugs affect our sleep. I am not talking about any hardcore kind of drugs, but ones that we may take/use on a regular basis. Caffeine can prevent you from falling asleep. It also interferes with your REM sleep, and if you are awaken at night, you can have difficulty falling asleep. Alcohol, our favorite, is great at making you fall asleep quickly, but it actually reduces the amount of REM sleep you get. So, you are decreasing the quality of sleep you are getting. With some of the sleep aides, you may fall asleep faster, but they may prevent you from reaching REM. They are to used for TEMPORARY relief only of insomnia, and some of them can cause daytime drowsiness. So, if you use them, make sure you read the directions. If if says get 8 hours of sleep, then plan to get a full 8 hours.

I was reading a study that compared Caucasians and African Americans. On AVERAGE women got more sleep than the men of each race, and Caucasians on average got more sleep than African Americans. According to my textbook, men have more difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. Women can have problems with sleep due to hormones (stupid hormones). But women's hormones do fluctuate during the month and this can have an impact on sleep.

Weekend

2009-10-27T04:11:00.000-07:00

I had a great time at the party! Crossfit Deep is such a cool place! I could really see myself working out there! And Eric seems to want to help me so I can, but I just need to find the finances. Stupid money. Stupid nursing school. I wish it was closer, because there wouldn't be any questions asked about what I would do!

It was great seeing people from CFDC at the party. Granted, after talking to some people, it seems like things have changed so much since I left. Which really saddens me. I thought that Crossfit was such a big family community, and to hear what I heard, just breaks my heart. It makes me question if I want to get back into it if this is how Crossfit treats people who leave. Granted, I know that I haven't gotten the whole story, but the people I've talked to, I think they are pretty reliable.

And so, a new week begins. I have clinicals again this week. :) Gotta love clinicals. Oh, and yesterday, I got the biggest compliment from two of my teachers. Since I am doing so well, they think that I am "brilliant" (Their words not mine). While I know that I am smart, I know how hard I work. So, to say brilliant, I don't think that applies, maybe it does. But we got the "you suck" speech after our big pharm test. Seems like a lot of people won't be passing this semester and going on to the next one. Sad. Very sad. I find that school is actually easy if you study. But that's just me! :)

Rainy Day!

2009-10-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

So, I did a quick workout after preclinical. Here it was...

1 mile warm up on the elliptical
10-8-6-4-2
Pull ups
Push ups
50 sit up cool down

My made up metcon took me 4:30. It could have been a lot quicker, but stupid pull ups slowed me down! Oh well. It was nice. Abs are finally feeling better!

So, I get home after my workout, took my shower, and was getting ready to finish my preclinical paper work and.....my clinical is cancelled tomorrow. So, I have tomorrow off. A day off, and I don't have ANYTHING to do. Hmm...I wonder what I am going to do!

Gotta Go Deep!

2009-10-20T16:49:00.001-07:00

Thank you Sandy for making me go to the free workout a few days ago!

WOD:
In groups of 3, with only 2 people working at a time
As many points in 10 minutes of:
Squats (worth 1 point)
Ab-mat situps (worth 2 points)
Burpees (worth 3 points)

Great workout! Sandy and I figured we could do situps all day! LOL. But it would be better to do a few of those horrible burpees to boost our score. Our final score ending up being 940, or something like that. I don't remember my score exactly, but I did a ton of sit ups. I woke up that next day, and my abs were so freaking sore! Even now, 3 days out, abs are still sore! I so love CF. It's so great to come back and do these workouts with people that I love! I am really happy that I was able to still run 400m and not have to stop! I know that I do the elliptical, but it's not the same as real running.

CrossFit Deep is such a good box. I wish I was closer so I could go, but still don't have the time. Will have to go back when/if I get another Saturday off.

Ok, update on school. Last week, I had my Concepts test, got a 94! Woo hoo! Had Assessment test yesterday, and pulled out a 90. Today, I had pharm....pharm.....pharm....pharm. I left the test feeling pretty good. Grades still weren't posted when I went to Concepts lecture. All of our instructors were there. This should have been the first sign that something wasn't right. The instructor that helps with retention, started first. Well, we get the "You suck speech". I am sure you have heard it sometime in your life. Apparently, my class has done the worst compared to previous classes. They were blunt, and said that some of us weren't going to make it to Junior II. Uh oh....ok, so kinda makes me think that I didn't do so well. This speech goes on for about 30 minutes. Our pharm teacher comes in, and honestly, looked like she had been crying. Which makes me feel horrible. I was hoping that I hadn't let her down. Long story short, I made a 94. Woo hoo! Looks like I am not one of those people that isn't doing well. Well, I knew that, but I hate the "You suck speech". Just one more test tomorrow! Then, clinicals, and I can relax for a day!

Weekend fun!

2009-10-05T06:48:00.001-07:00

OK, so I totally slacked off on my sleep fitness blog. Promise guys, it is coming! I just had stuff that I needed to do.

I did manage to get a workout in yesterday.

Did my 1 mile warm up on the elliptical. Still hate doing it, but I like getting my HR up. For my WOD, I did one that we did a few months ago.

14 rounds
3 push jerk
3 L-pull up (subbed knees to elbows)

I used 55# again. I warmed up with it, and for some reason it felt heavier than last time. So, I just used it. I actually finished the WOD in 9:00, which is 50 seconds faster than my previous time! This time I took less breathing breaks. Nice to see an improvement. Cool down, 50 situps.

Sorry for the short post, but just wated to post something to let you guys know I am alive! :)

Rest Day

2009-09-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, so today is not REALLY a rest day, but it feels like one! My classes today got cancelled, so I am going to get to catch up on some work. I went and worked out this AM. Did a mile on the elliptical for warm up. Then did seated leg presses. I know, not the same as real squats, but back was not feeling it. :( Also did my 3 rounds of 5 pull ups & 5 ring dips. The dips kill me! I am thinking about increasing the pull ups to 10 and just keeping with the 5 ring dips until I can build up endurance again! And to cool down, 50 sit ups!

On another note....I had my first Pharm test yesterday. And I made an A! Oh yeah! Actually, 96 to be more exact. It was a pretty easy test, but not everyone else thought so. I had to keep telling them that you have to start studying now, and you can't wait until the last minute with Pharm. Lots of drugs, and lots of side effects to remember!

Well, I need to go and make breakfast! Yum for egg white omelets! :) Lunch will be a "cheat" today since I am having lunch with a friend from out of town. Going to Ghengis Grill. Will make it as Zone friendly as possible. Which pretty much means, extra meat, and little rice. Have a great day everyone!

AED's, Beta-Blockers, & Opioids!

2009-09-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

OK, so by the title of this post, I bet you guys know what's on my mind! Pharmacology! Oh yeah! Fun stuff right? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I will not be going into all the details about the wonderful world of Pharm! BUT....I thought I would share with you guys a fun Pharm mnemonic!

2-Cocks are bad, while 1-Cock is good! Ok, yes, I did say Cock, but it is actually a play on the word COX. Which is actually cyclooxygenase (See why they call it COX?) I actually wanted to mention COX-2 inhibitor drugs because we being crossfitters, are actually well known to some of these drugs. COX-1 is good, and COX-2 is bad, just like I mentioned but with dirtier words. The enzyme COX-2 is responsible for inflammation, fever, and pain. COX-1 is responsible for increasing the protective gastric mucus which is good since our stomach is acidic and it protects us from ourselves. So, can anyone guess what type of drug we would use to inhibit COX-2? Anyone? Ok, I am going to pretend like someone said the right answer. Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and Aspirin! Let me dissect each of these drugs for a minute. (You guys didn't know that you would be getting a lecture did you? hehe...but I actually do think it is important that you know a little bit about the drugs you are taking)

Aspirin: Nonselective inhibitor. This means that it can inhibit either COX-1 or COX-2. What's the big thing with Aspirin? It "thins" your blood right? Well, technically no. It doesn't actually thin your blood, it just makes your platelets (those really cool things that make blood clots when you rip your hands doing a million pull ups or kettlebell swings) not stick together. Hence the reason that it is recommended to take Aspirin to prevent heart attacks from blood clots. (Preventing clotting is an inhibition of COX-1). With regards to COX-1 inhibition and Aspirin, it also reduces those protective gastric secretions making you prone to ulcers. Which is no bueno. It also inhibits COX-2, which decreases are fever, pain, and inflammation. Which is a good thing! But by taking Aspirin there really isn't a way for you to tell that pill only inhibit COX-2 so I feel better, you gotta inhibit the good COX-1 as well. :( Sign to watch out for if you are an Aspirin popper: ringing in the ears (first sign of toxicity). And please guys, no alcohol with Aspirin, just makes the blood "thinner" and then when you fall and hit your head because you are dizzy, you have this head bleed and a large laceration that I have to fix. And guys...I love playing with staplers...so I will show no mercy! ;) (OH yeah, and don't give to children under 18..bad bad things could happen.)

Tylenol: Who doesn't love tylenol (besides you Carrie). Tylenol rocks. It is a selective inhibitor of the bad COX-2. By selective I mean, that it inhibits parts of it, but not all. Tylenol will make your fever go away and help with the pain...BUT does not help with the anti-inflammatory parts. :( Sadness right? Also with tylenol, you aren't making your blood "thinner". Tylenol is good because it doesn't inhibit COX-1, so our stomach is still being protected. Which is a good thing right? Tylenol is great for children. Bad thing about tylenol....liver toxicity. So, if you have liver damage or you are a big alcoholic, lets not take this. Love your liver guys! It saves you from yourself! :)

Ibuprofen: AKA: Motrin, Advil, Naproxen (the list goes on and on...many different names, same drug). This should be in every CrossFitters medicine cabinet. It works great for fever, pain, AND inflammation (All those things that COX-2 does, we are making better)! (But also, for the ladies...helps with those menstrual cycle cramps). Now it does inhibit some COX-1, but not really that much, but enough. Things to watch out for with ibuprofen, would be if you have liver or kidney disease, allergies to aspirin, and drinking alcohol while taking the ibuprofen. (Yep, alcohol is never a good thing to take with any drug in case you haven't figured that out)

Now, as we all know....(or you do now)....there is no such thing as a "SAFE" drug. Every drug has side effects. With drugs, we need to be looking at what it does and the side effects. Now, side effects are usually present when you take too much of a drug. And every person reacts differently to a certain drug. So, you have to know your body and know what it can and can not handle.

Did you guys like that little lesson in over the counter medications? On another note, I have noticed that everyone is posting a lot less than normal. I understand that life is busy, believe me, I do. But what was the point of these blogs? We made these blogs so that we could learn about ourselves, and each other through our failures and victories.

I read your guys stuff every other day, if not every day. Sometimes, I may not comment. But I do read it. And I realize that I have been slacking the most. I blame school. To some, that may be a valid reason, but I am not going to try to let it be a reason anymore. Granted, I am not crossfitting as much as I used to be, but I am still living life. So, even if I don't workout, I am still going to keep you posted, and will be giving you guys "lessons" about our bodies and processes. I am a firm believer that knowledge is the key, and if you know how to treat something, or know the signs, you are going to be much better off. I want you guys to be healthy and live long. So, these things need to be learned now!

Yesterday: I did workout! Felt great to be back in the gym. I did a mile on the elliptical to get my heart rate up. Then, did 3 rounds 5-pull ups and 5-ring dips. Fun! (Yeah right!). Then went to bench press to work on my arms. Did:
45# x10
55# x 8
60# x 5
65# x5
70#x 5
75# x 5

And arms are feeling it today! Love that feeling! After that, did 140 sit ups. Not the most Crossfit workout, but it was what I felt like doing, so that's what I did! :)

Oh, and the next blog I am planning on doing will be one about sleep fitness, since every sounds like they don't get enough sleep!

A Week of Firsts

2009-09-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! :) So, this has been such a great week! OK..by great I mean full of tests and my very first clinical. Monday, I had my first Assessment test. There were some I didn't know, and no matter how much I would have read, still wouldn't have remembered the answers. So, I made a B. Woo hoo. I passed. Tuesday, I had my lecture test in Clincals and Concepts (Which is pretty much the theory behind everything, like why we wash our hands.) I started taking this test, and I was like, wow, this was really easy. I made an A. :) Then, Wednesday, I had my Asssessment check off (which is where we practice the skills we learn on a partner). I did really well. The ONLY thing I forgot was to check for tongue movement. Grr.....oh well. All I have to do is ask my partner next time to stick out her tongue.

Today: My VERY first clinical! Woo hoo! OK...I wish I had some exciting story to tell you guys, but I don't. I got to check morning vitals, I gave a bed bath, and made beds. Exciting right? Not really. But my next clinical, I get to do actual work. I get to practice nursing. The good thing was, all of my patients today were really nice and were like "Do whatever you need". So that was cool that they were really nice.

Oh, something I forgot. Monday morning I went to the gym before going to class. I did the Push Press WOD. Warm up, did 10 minutes on the elliptical, then did a warm up set of 10 x 45# and got into the WOD.

3-3-3-3-3
65-75-80-85-95x 1

Kinda upset that I couldn't finish the 95# x 3. I had horrible form on the 95#, so I didn't try again. That and I knew that I had to get home and get ready for school and my test. In between each set, I did 5 knees-to-elbows. Felt good to be back in the gym. I really need to get better at going during school, I was very relaxed when I went to school. I wish I had time to come to the gym. It's just so hard getting all the reading done when I am not doing anything else.

But the difference between me and my other classmates, is that I am actually relaxing more than they are. I get 8-9 hours of sleep a night. I eat very Zone friendly, and just don't let the stress get to me! I wish I could explain this to all of my classmates. Maybe it would help them with their stress....BUT people don't listen to me! Oh well....their loss!

Time flies!

2009-09-16T05:00:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone. Again, sorry for the lack of updates. I really didn't think that you guys want to know about what I am learning in school. Granted, I am planning on doing a sleep fitness blog next time I get more than 10 minutes to write something.

So, I am halfway through week #3 of school. Just 12 more weeks left of this semester. Yes, I have started the countdown already. Kinda scary to think that in about 20 months, I will have another degree and actually get to do something professionally and be a productive member of society. Ahh...this whole being an adult...when did this happen?

Week One...kinda boring. I learned a bunch of stuff that I already knew.
Week Two...still learning some things that I already knew, but now we threw in how to take manual blood pressures. I started out a little rough, but I have the hang of it. Or at least I can do it well enough to pass my check off. I am having some difficulties with school. Not the actual work, just going through this and knowing that half the stuff I learn I will not be doing when I am actually working. Like manual BPs. Come on, when have you gone to a hospital and actually had your blood pressure taken by hand? I know in the ER we don't do it. You don't have time to do a two-step blood pressure on every patient that you have. It's just not possible. I had my first Pharm quiz this week, and woo hoo...got both questions right! Starting to relax a little when it comes to pharm, but not much. I still feel like this will be my hardest class. There is so much information and so much about drugs that they want us to learn. But we do get some pretty good pneumonics to remember things...like 2-Cocks (COX) are bad, and 1-Cock (COX) is good. I swear that this has use, and I am not making it up. Or like the PNS (Peripheral Nervous System) really stands for "Piss N Shit". I can tell you more if you like to clarify this.
Week Three: Ahh...the stress is starting to kick in a little bit. I had to get fingerprinted for my nursing license this week. Kinda cool. Things are starting to become a reality that this is going to actually happen. They also took a HORRIBLE mug shot. We weren't allowed to smile or anything. :( I pray that no one ever sees that picture. It almost scared me! I realize that my first set of tests is next week. But I am using me, "I am going to do the best I am going to do, and not freak out" attitude that I developed over the summer. I just have to take each day as it comes. This week, I am learning how to assess the head and its features. Fun fun! I know, you guys are just sitting by the seat of your pants in all the excitement! LOL.

This past Sunday, I went and did a Body Works class at LA Fitness just to see what it was all about. I must say, that for the next two days, I could have sworn I had done a CF workout. My thighs were killing me. We didn't do anything too taxing, just a bunch of air squats and some arm work. As I was going through class, I was looking around at the other women, and they were ALL doing squats wrong! I may need some help in changing their positions on the squats! It may take some work. But you guys will be proud that I did all of my air squats correctly! :)

Diet:
I have been doing fairly well on my diet, except for breakfast. Breakfast is my weakness, I must admit. Trying to be good and eat more egg whites, but some mornings, you wake up and you just want a pancake! I make lunch everyday, so it is very Zone friendly. Usually ends up being a chicken breast, some type of nut, fruit, and a yogurt.

Well, it is off to Assessment. I will keep you guys posted!

Trying to Figure it All Out

2009-09-07T13:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I have officially survived my first week of school! My anxiety has decreased, but the work load has increased. Every night before bed, I read my Pharm notes. Sad huh? Oh well. I think that Pharm will be my hardest class. The other classes feel like common sense to me. I don't know if it is common sense, or I have just been around this information for so long that it is second nature to me. We will see as these next two years progress.

As for workouts...no excuses. I only worked out on Thursday and Today (Monday). I had good intentions, but then something always came up. Like the notes for the next lecture got posted, so I decided to go through them, define the terms, and read them to prepare for the quizzes. Then I had to read chapters for Fundamentals. Which took FOREVER. Seriously...I can only read about how to use cruthces for so long before I go bonkers. Things like that, while not hard concepts, and I could probably get by with not reading it, but I have to read it. :( I might freak out.

So, Thursday, I attended the Aqua Fit Class with the CrossFit type instructor. She makes us do the length of the pool in a 5-4-3-2-1 lap type regimen, after each round, you do 10 push ups, and each set has a different way to get across the pool. It's actually really fun because I try to be competitive and beat the others. Doesn't always work because I am in the deeper end of the pool, and the deeper you get, the harder it is. Today, I went to my very first step class. Wow...that was different. Not overly challenging in terms of movements, but it shows exactly how uncoordinated I am sometimes. :) Over an hour of constantly moving and sweating. I might do this class again, will have to see if I can bring some friends to suffer with me. :)

My Apologies

2009-09-01T16:46:00.001-07:00

Hello my dear friends! First, let me say that I am sorry for the lack of posting on my part. I am alive, trust me. Last week was a mess. It was my last week full time, so I was working like crazy and trying to get stuff ready for school. I have no excuses for my laziness. By the time I got off work, I was tired and just wanted to rest. I have been riding an emotional roller coaster with school starting. I would go from being super excited to be starting, then be really nervous. (workouts will be started again on my off days from school)

It has been difficult to express in words my exact concerns, and during my first pharmacology lecture, the words came in the form of a nursing article.

Quick Summary:
This nurse developed a trusting relationship with her congestive heart failure patient. She has known him for years. One admission, she accidentally gave him a hypertensive medication when his normal blood pressure runs 70/50s (which is pretty low to be a normal, but that was his normal). She realized she made a mistake and had to tell this patient that she messed up and he needed to start vomiting to get the medication out. She offered to get him another nurse, and he declined and said he wanted her. There was a relationship already there. He trusted her, and she messed up. His blood pressure did end up dropping and they had to start him on an additional line of medication. He did become stable and was discharged 3 days later and he told the nurse to "Stop beating yourself up. It was an accident". (Yep...had tears in my eyes)

Medications errors happen every day. Sometimes it can have adverse effects, and sometimes it won't harm the patient. I will be a nurse in two short years. Odds are pretty good that I am going to mess up. In fact, I know I will mess up. Everyone messes up. Thing is, when you do mess up, be honest. Own up to your mistakes. I can only hope and pray that God will give me the strength and the courage to tell my patient (and admitting physician) that I messed up. Mistakes do make us better, but theses are people's LIVES. Nurses are the last line of defense that the patient has. No one double checks our work. We check the doctors and pharmacists, but who checks us? Me. I check me. I am responsible for me, and no one else is.

Knowing this, puts extreme pressure on me. The thought makes me freak out just a little. Granted, I have known that I am responsible for lives, but since school started today, the thought has now become a reality. People's lives are in my hands. I am confident that I will make a good nurse. I just have to hope that I am able to build a trusting relationship with my patients that they will be as understanding and forgiving as the patient in the above story.

New Motto:
"Good is not good enough, when excellence is required."

My Man Nate....

2009-08-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

WOD for 3-19-2009

"Nate"
2 Muscle Ups
4 HSPU (subbed shoulder press)
8 KB Swings

OK...was not even thinking about arms when I was doing yesterdays workout. But CFDC wanted to do Nate. So I did Nate. I checked the blog before I left, and didn't know the substitution for the muscle ups. So, I just did a 1:1 substitution with pull ups and ring dips. Later, I found out that I should have done 4:1. Will remember that for next time. I used 15# DB for the presses and for the KB swings. Arms were feeling sore from yesterday as were the abs. I shouldn't have taken it easy on the presses and swings, but oh well. It's over now. Can't go back and redo it. I just won't let myself take it easier next time. Granted, even though I took it easier, it was still a hard workout. I was dripping in sweat when I was finished, so maybe I didn't take it THAT easy.

I finished 15 rounds on the buzzer! Sweet! And then I had my 50 minute cool down with Aqua Fit. I have to admit, it is kinda fun. It's nice to go get in the pool after you have worked hard doing a CF workout to a cool pool and still having constant movement for 50 minutes.

After that, a nice relaxing 2 hours by the pool reading pharmacology and Harry Potter! Not at the same time, but would switch books whenever I would switch sides. If I have to study, might as well do it by the pool right? :)

Diet:
Breakfast/Lunch: Don't usually eat before working out. On days off from work, I usually work out from 8-10. So, for this meal, I had 1/2c granola, almonds, 2 pieces of turkey bacon, 1/2c blackberries
Dinner: Not sure what I am doing yet. Going to Happy Hour with my friend for her 40th Birthday! I am going to TRY to be good and not drink alcohol. But what's worse on the Paleo scale, alcohol or a soda?

Gotta Push On!

2009-08-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

WOD for 8-18-2009

Push Press (main site)
1-1-1-1-1

Cookie:
21-15-9
Push Ups
Sit Ups
Pull Ups

My workout ended up changing pretty much until I actually did it. My friend Amber and her boyfriend who does CrossFit as well, came up to the hospital at lunch. Matt and I started talking, and the plan was for him to meet me at the gym for a workout. I was actually excited. Someone to seriously CrossFit with. We had planned to meet at 7 after the Aqua Fit class. Well...he had to help Amber's grandparents move furniture, and by the time he got done, it was almost 7 and he hadn't eaten, so he asked for a raincheck. Which I will give him the rain check, but he will have some kind of burpee penatly!!

I know that CFDC had the clean and press for the WOD, but I was not feeling comfortable with my clean without having an additional person to watch my form. Hurting my back is NOT going to be beneficial to me. Especially with school starting in less than two weeks! Ahh! So, it was great that the push press was on the main site, so it's like I did part of the CFDC workout.

OK...onto the press. I couldn't remember what my 1 rep max was. So, I just went as heavy as could. Granted, it wasn't that much.

Working Set:
45-50-55-60-65-70-75-80-85-90(f)-90-(f)

Sadness....failed at 90. Got home, and looked at my past 1 rep max, and it was like 90# back in April. So, major sadness. I think the fail from the first attempt got into my head. Or I am just weaker. I would really like to think it is the first of the two choices. Did the best I could today, and that's all I can ask for.

I hadn't planned on doing a cookie, but Matt and I were texting back and forth and he told me that I had to do this workout. So, I did. Time was slower than I would have liked. Didn't break things up too much, but I feel there was a lot of room for improvement. Abs are still wicked sore from Annie yesterday. I don't ever remember them being this sore. That just made the 21-15-9 worse. ugg...Time for my cookie was 6:50. I will attempt this again soon, and see if I improve!

Diet:
Breakfast: egg white omelet, 1/2 bagel, 1/2c yogurt, almonds
Lunch: Fajita meat and Salad
Dinner: lime chicken breast, celery, almonds, 1/2c raspberries

Work Work Work

2009-08-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

Hey guys..I am back into the swing of things. I took a few extended rest days....no real good reason. Just wanted to relax when I got off of work. But I think I made for it today on my day off.

I got up and looked at the WOD...running two miles. Ick. So, I did this on the elliptical. Time was horrible, but I did just 2 miles straight. Then I went and did "Annie". My time was slower than last time. Then again, last time I did Annie I didn't do a 2 mile run right before. For my sub for double unders, I did the vertical jumps. I would like to think that my time was slower because I didn't have an Ab mat. I never realized how much the Ab mats help when doing multiple reps like Annie.

Time was 9:50. Will work on improving this time.

Then, I went to my Aqua Fit Class. The regular instructor for Monday mornings is back from vacation. It's very interesting to see the different instructors and their techniques. I really liked this one. Worked our triceps really well! Will be feeling the soreness from that tomorrow!

Other than that, everything is going well. Feeling tons better....maybe it's the new shoes! Hehe...So, the plans for the rest of my day off....tanning by the pool while reading Harry Potter and Pharmacology!

This Week...

2009-08-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

I am sorry Lindsey for not posting every day to keep you entertained. Have had personal issues, and just have not felt like taking the time to post and be positive. But the good thing is, even though I didn't WANT to work out, I did work out.

Tuesday:
"Helen"ish. So, I was kinda looking forward to Helen. She's a great one. But again, treadmills and I don't get along. And Amber was working out with me that day! :) So, Amber and I were going to do the 3 rounds, but sub the row. Since one of the rowers was broken, we had to go one at a time. And I went first. First 400m, went by quickly (1:26...fastest I've done that before), and finished that round around 3 minutes using the 25# DB for the KB swings. Amber was keeping time for me, and well, didn't realize that she had to keep the timer going for the entire time. So, she only timed my first row. And then she timed my whole second round, which I finished in 4 something. And then some old lady stole my rower. :( Sadness. So, I just did two rounds. Amber did Helenish as well, but since the old lady was on the rower (and wasn't really doing much work, just sitting there and half assing it) she did her two rounds on the elliptical. Oh well...not like I can kick her off the rower. After that, we went and did an hour of Aqua Fit.

Wednesday:
Not too much to say about this day, or much that I wish to go into.
WOD was
3 Jerk
3 L pull-ups

I have no clue how to do an L pull up. Nor do I know how to sub it. So, I changed up the WOD a little bit. Instead of doing L-pull ups, I did knees to elbows. Well, it ended up really being bring your knees up as high as you can. Which I actually thought that I was getting them up higher than I have in the past. Used 55# for the jerk. Probably should have gone higher. Oh well. I will do this one again soon, as I thought it was fun. Time: 9:50

Thursday:
Had a day off. Spent it shopping with my mom and little brother. Lovely cheat meal at Tin Star...yum for flour tortillas, but I didn't eat any rice. Found a really cute top and dress...oh and two pair of shoes! I heart shoes! Now, I just need some place to wear them to! For the WOD, it was deadlift. Normally I love deadlift. But I just didn't have it in me. Not a lot of sleep, and just not my normal energy. Past couple of days have taken a lot out of me emotionally. So, I knew that I had to do SOMETHING productive. So, I did a warm up row. Then did bench press 5 sets of 10 reps each (45-50-55-60-65). Then cool down sit ups, and then an hour of Aqua Fit. Now, the Aqua fit teacher, wow...much different than the Tuesday night teacher. Much more cardio. Lots of "sprints". And even a mini CF style workout. Which was awesome! I will probably become a regular to her 6PM Aqua Fit class just for the CF style workout.

So, today is Friday. Not sure if I am going to work out or not. I know I need to, but right now, I have no energy. I may just end up doing Annie at home sans running. We'll see.

Splish Splash

2009-08-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

WOD for 8-10-2009

Back Squat 5-5-5-5-5

One word for this workout. BLAH! I usually love squats. I felt good during my warm up sets. I started off my first set at 95#, something I new I could easily get. Then I jumped to #115. Which normally would not have been any problem, but on my 3rd rep, I noticed that my back was doing something funny. Finished out the set and tried to correct form. I decided to drop back down to 95# for my 3rd set to try to correct my form.

Ok, form correct on the 3rd set. Bumped up to 105#, and on my 4th set, I started doing that funny back thing. Can't even really describe it. It was like my back was rounding, but didn't feel like rounding per say. Like I said, hard to describe. So, at this point I am feeling pretty let down. I am not having problems with the weight. The weight itself is easy. Not quite sure why my form is breaking down. So, I drop back down to 95# to finish the workout on a good note.

Seriously, not sure why my form was not there today. I am so embarrassed that I didn't even post my weight on the blog. I feel like I am starting back over again. Just being that girl who was never good at anything. Granted, that feeling went away when my logical side kicked it again. It's just hard sometimes. There isn't anyone working out with me. It's just me, all by myself. But I think back and remember all the friends that I've made back at CFDC, and I am not really alone. Just temporarily by myself.

Well, after my not so good WOD I went and did the aqua fit class. This one was so much better than the first class. She actually worked us! So much for this being my cool down. Win for the day, 2 hours of working out! Then I went and laid in the sun for 2 hours...now to clean the house...so much to do on my day off!

Catching Up

2009-08-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys, I have been kinda lax on posting. But I did work out Friday and today.

WOD for 8-7-2009
Overhead squats
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

It's been a LONG time since I've done OHS. I looked back when the last time I did OHS and it was when we did the 4 sets of 15. I managed to get 45# all 15 times. I was working out alone, so I was kinda nervous because there weren't any coaches there to make sure that I was doing it right. So, I took it kinda easy to see where I was at. I did:

45-50-55-60-65-65-65

I probably could have done 70#, but when I got up to 65# my arms started getting shaky and I started to go forward on the squats. And as Koy says, you have to know your body. I really didn't want to go heavier and possibly hurt myself. So, for my last two reps, I really worked on form and next time I will get at least 75# if not more!

While I was doing my OHS, I noticed something extremely concerning. There was a trainer working with a client and they were doing deadlifts. The guy who was deadlifting was totally rounding his back! And the trainer wasn't saying a word! I should have spoken up. But the guy wasn't paying me to coach him. And then I was thinking that I shouldn't piss the staff off since I was working out there. Note to self, next time I see that trainer teaching him wrong, will speak up.

After the OHS, my friend Amber from work came up to the gym and we did 2 miles on the elliptical. In the past, I used to hate the elliptical, but now, I have come to a love-hate relationship with it. I am starting to enjoy my time on it. I get 20 or so minutes on it and have time to just blank out, listen to my music and get a nice warm up, and a nice cool down. It actually relaxes me.

WOD for 8-9-2009
J.T.
21-15-9
HSPUs
Ring Dips
Knee Push Ups

Thanks to Carrie's Blog, I found out what CFDC did for the Saturday workout. Funny thing is, I have been thinking about doing J.T. for a few days, and since CFDC did it, I went ahead and did it. I couldn't remember what my time was for this the last time I did it, and forgot to look it up. I was hoping for about 11 minutes. That sounded reasonable to me.

I used 15# DB for the shoulder press and the ring dip machine for my substitution, and of course knee push ups (sometimes, I feel like I will be doing these for the rest of my life). I almost did the first set of presses unbroken, but had to stop at rep 16 due to me slacking on form. Dips were another story all together. I only seemed to be able to do 5 in a row. Push ups went well. I got to 15 before I needed to stop and shake my arms out. Last time I did J.T. when I got to my push ups, I went to do my first one and my arms just collapsed! LOL. So, an improvement from last time.

Time: 9:40

Time from last J.T. on 3-12-09: 16:59

Wow! I totally cut off about 6 minutes off my previous time! Woo hoo! Even though I did a good job, there was a lot of room for improvement. I took a couple of breathing breaks in between movements. And I am still not able to finish a set unbroken. If I can do that, I really think I can cut off about 40 seconds off my time. New goal: J.T. 9 minutes or less!

Crazy Days!

2009-08-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I thought about it, and just never got around to it.

Tuesday:
Work was crazy in Allen! It began as a nice slow morning, and then the doctor I was working with, actually said it was slow! Rule #1 of being in the ER...never ever say SLOW! The shit will hit the fan, and it will get crazy! Low and behold...what happens? You guessed it, it got crazy! Our simple anxiety chick ended up having a psychotic break. And people just kept coming in, and we didn't have rooms...yadda yadda....just a busy day. By the time I finally got off, honestly, I didn't feel like working out let alone doing 100 thrusters. But, I did go work out. I just didn't do the workout of the day. I did 1.5 miles on the elliptical. Then did 100 leg presses. I did 10 sets of 10, increasing in weight with each set. I did: 180-185-190-195-200-205-210-215-220-240. Legs felt like jello after this. Then, I did 3 rounds of: 5 pull ups 5 dips. Then did ab work. Fun stuff! Felt so much better after working out!

Wednesday:
Unscheduled rest day. My mom came into Dallas to come see me. We went and saw Harry Potter (I've already seen it, but she was begging me to take her!). Had a great yummy lunch at Pei Wei. Ate all of the meat, but maybe only 2 bites of the rice. Maybe if I was going to work out, then I would have eaten more of the rice. Then, we went to Costco. I've never been to Costco, so it was fun! I kept looking at things, and going wow...such a good deal. I got this HUGE thing of almond butter for $5.99. The smallest jar I've ever been able to find costs that much. So, I had to get a jar even though I already had some at home. Never hurts to stock up! It was just nice to enjoy a day off with my mom! :)

Thursday:
Back at work...yay Plano! I missed being back at Plano. Of all the hospitals I work at, this is where I am most comfortable. Anyway, I knew I was going to be busy today. The doctor I was with texted me the day before telling me that we didn't have any PA coverage for our shift. So, for the first 6 hours, we were all alone. Day began with a CPR! Haven't seen a CPR in a while, so it was nice for a change. Sorry to say, the woman didn't make it. But then again, at least 90% of the people who come in with CPR will not make it. Day was actually going pretty well, until about 1 hour before we got the next doctor. About that time, we had like 5 ambulances and then had to take care of the people that were already there. We had a couple of people with an irregular heart rhythm at the same time, so kinda hectic making sure that every one's orders got done. So, today's workout was supposed to run 400m x 6. Well, to be completely honest, treadmills scare me. I am paranoid that I am going to trip and fall on face (probably because I have done that before...seriously...) So, I calculated how far that would actually be, and it comes out to being about 1.5 miles. I did 2 miles in 20 minutes with variable resistance and cross ramp. Then, I did 3 rounds: 5 pull ups, 5 ring dips. After that some ab work.

I know that I am not suffering as much as my fellow crossfitters, but the old me..would have just not worked out after such stressful work days. The old me would have gone home, laid on the couch, watched TV, and have eaten something bad. CrossFit has changed me. I enjoy working out. I have developed a passion for it. So, yes, I may not be doing what you guys are doing, but I am still working out. And I would much rather do something than nothing!

New Week, New Beginning

2009-08-04T05:40:00.000-07:00

WOD for 8-3-2009

100 push ups for time.

Ok, so the original WOD was 100 push ups for time, and every time you stopped, run 400m. I knew that I would have had to modify this because I didn't really have any idea of where 400m run would be in an gym. There wasn't really any room to run on the treadmill after doing push ups, and the rowers were both taken. SO, I just decided to do the 100 push ups, and then do some elliptical work. Not as exciting, but still kinda doing the same thing.

I did the elliptical work first. I did a little over a mile in about 11 minutes. I started doing tabata style on the elliptical for the last 3 minutes. That made it a little more interesting. After that, I went and did my 100 push ups. Don't really know my exact time, because I left my timer at home, so I was working off my phone. It was somewhere around 5 minutes. So, if you add both of my times, you get approximately 16 minutes of working out. That seems to make sense for this WOD for me.

Oh, on another random note....Crossfit has seriously been paying off! Everyone at work keeps telling me how great I look, and that I am like a whole new person! *Big Grin*

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: a couple of bites of scrambled eggs, bacon, 1/2c yogurt
Lunch: Salad, peanuts
Dinner: chicken breast cooked in olive oil, diced sweet potatoes, almonds, peach
Total Water Intake: 2.5L

Changing Things Up

2009-08-02T04:55:00.000-07:00

Had a day off yesterday! Woo hoo! I had planned to workout in the morning and then lay out by the pool...what a way to spend my day off.

So, I begun my day off at the gym. Worked out by myself since Kelsey was at work. I did a mile and a half on the ellipitcal. Fun (yeah right). And then, I went to an Aqua aerobics class. I have never done one and have always wanted to try it. Well, it was interesting to say that least. I was the youngest person there, and the thinnest. It was a group of older heavier women. Had a great instructor. She was nice and funny. Overall, I enjoyed it. I think I might go to another class, but only as a 50 minute cool down. I don't know if my heart rate came closer to maximum like with a CF workout. But I wanted to try something new. Constantly varied functional movements right? Isn't that the CF motto?

I am feeling some tightness in my upper shoulders today, which could have been from the class. Who knows? It was nice to see heavier people doing the workout. Shows that they are trying to get healthier. Now, can we get the rest of the obese population to do this?

Put some Dead In That Lift!

2009-07-31T06:13:00.000-07:00

WOD for 7-30-2009

Deadlift
5-5-5-5-5

So great to be back in the box! I missed it and the people there! And of course, I do love the deadlift! I decided to take it light since I haven't seriously deadlifted since May. I needed to get back into the swing of things.

Sets looked like:
123#-143#-143#-143#-163#

I felt really good at the 123#. So, I bumped up to 143#. Didn't really have trouble with the weight, but I really wanted to concentrate on good solid form. I wasn't looking to set any records by any means. On my last set, I jumped to 163#, which I was able to lift it easily off the ground, but on my last rep I rounded out my back. FTL. But I am glad that I did lighter weights for the WOD.

Other good news...I talked to Sam about my situation, and he is going to work something out with me so that I can continue to come to CFDC when my schedule allows! FTW! Sam is such a great coach and business man...it's so easy to see why CFDC has become such a great success! Thank you so much Sam! This place means the world to me, and I am so excited that I will be able to continue on while attending nursing school! I may only get to come once a week, but it's still something!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: Egg white omelet with peppers and bacon, 9 walnuts, pineapple
Lunch: Pei Wei (cheat)
Dinner: Chicken from Central Market and Vegetable soup
Dessert: 4 strawberries, 2 pieces of pineapple

Hang, Squat, Press, GO!

2009-07-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

WOD for 7-28-2009

Every minute on the minute for 20 minutes:
3 Hang power cleans
3 Front squats
3 Push-press

Ok, so I modified this a little bit. I didn't have a good way to do the "every minute on the minute" as there wasn't a clock near me, nor do I have a timer that would go off every minute. So, I told myself that I will just do 20 rounds. I used the 45# bar. I would do 2 rounds, and then take a few seconds break, and then do 2 more rounds. After the 10th round, I was like, man, am I tired....I really wanted to stop when I got to round 15. But I didn't. I kept thinking about Carrie, Lindsey and Sandy yelling at me to keep going and that I had to finish so I didn't let them down. After the 12th round, some guy comes up to me and was like how many more sets do you have? I told him 8. He looked at me like I was from another planet. Hehe...

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 2 pieces of bacon, 1 scoop scrambled eggs (I hate scrambled eggs!), 6 almonds, 1/2c yogurt (sorry, I love yogurt!)
Lunch: Chicken fajitas! MMM...doctor's lounge food is really yummy! (No sour cream or cheese on my fajitas though)
Dinner: Spicy lime chicken breast cooked in olive oil, 8 almonds, 2 sticks of celery

On another note...I swore I would never watch this show, but since nothing else was really on, I watched it. The show is "More to Love". I don't plan on watching this show on a regular basis. But watching it makes me so thankful for CrossFit. There was 20 girls who were overweight. Granted, not all of them were obese. A couple of them, just needed to lose a few pounds around the middle, and they would be all set. As I am sitting here and listening to these women, I am amazed at how happy they are that they are "big and beautiful". Now, I am all about loving yourself and being happy. But are you *REALLY* happy when you are 300 pounds? Then there were some girls that were like "I've never had a date" and "I just want someone to love me for me". They were pretty much all complaining that people judge them on the way they look, and that they should have to change.....and how "big girls" need love too. Watching these obese (excuse me, curvy and voluptuous women) made me want to throw up my nice healthy (and quite tasty) dinner up.

And the guy is a bigger guy himself. He was saying that "life is too short to worry about dieting and watching calories". I don't know how exactly I feel about this statement. Life can be long and fulfilling. Yes, sometimes it starts to get frustrating when everyone is eating ice cream all the time, but they are obese and don't care what they eat. I do care. But I also don't take everything to the extreme. If I want ice cream, I will have a SMALL portion. Not the whole carton.

Not sure where this rambling is going. I know that I will never be a size 2. And I realize that I have problem areas that I am working on. I do know that eating well and working out will give you results. Seeing those women makes me want to work that much harder so I don't become one of them. Thankfully, I have got great friends and family that would NEVER let me get that far! So, Thank You guys for not allowing me to become a 488 pound person that can not fit into a CT scanner! (True story that happened at work today, might have to send him to the zoo)

Update

2009-07-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

Life in the ER is never a boring one let me tell you. It seems like at this point in time, people are sick. Which in a bad way, is nice. Not nice that people are sick, but nice that someone actually really needs our help. They have a real reason to be in the ER, and not their usual "I just want vicodin" bull shit reasons. However, the price with sick critical patients, is that I get to stay late. Staying late means that I am more tired than normal, and I don't make the drive because I am too tired. Excuses, maybe, but please tell me that after working an 11 hour day that you really just want to go and sit down for a few minutes.

This is not exactly how I wanted to talk about things. I would have preferred to do it in person, but with the Allen Go Live, docs that don't turn their patients over, and just sick people in general, it has really affected my CrossFit time. However, I have another situation that has been weighing greatly on my mind. As you guys know, I am getting ready to begin full time nursing school. Woo hoo! However, that comes at a price. My mother has graciously offered to pay for my school, which I am accepting. I am extremely lucky to have my mother pay for my schooling again. With school being a full time job, I will be unable to work full time at the hospital. My mom says that I don't have to work, but I am choosing to work to help out with the bills to prove that I am not a free loader. Not that she would ever think that, but I want to do my part.

So, I guess to make a long story short, I am not going to be able to pay for CrossFit. I don't have the funds anymore. I can not ask my mother to give me the extra money for the fees when she is already helping me with tuition, books, and rent. While I am out of school, I am working 20+ shifts a month to try to get extra money to help out when I start working less.

I will now have to workout on my own. Well, not entirely on my own, I will be working out for the most part with my friend Kelsey. It's not a good bye entirely, I will still be around. I am still going to blog. I love you guys so very much. I love CFDC and the amazing things that it has taught me. I plan on coming back when I get more money, but right now, it's not possible. I am hoping that the coaches will let me pop in every now and then on Sundays to have a real CF workout and see you guys. Results may not be as great as they have been in the past, but I am still going to work hard, and do the best I can. I will have to take it easy on some lifts like snatch, just because there isn't a coach to watch my form. So, I guess on those days it will be light work and just try to perfect the form.

I have enjoyed being at CFDC sooo much. I have gotten so many new friends and have learned a healthier way to live. I love the feeling being healthy and the confidence that CFDC has given me. I am excited to teach my friend the CFDC way! I am going to represent CFDC at LA Fitness! So, this is not a good bye, it's a see you later! I promise...you haven't seen the last of me!

Rest Day!

2009-07-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an unscheduled rest day. We had planned to take a rest day today, but Kelsey couldn't make it yesterday, and even though I started to feel better, my house was a mess! So, I cleaned the apartment. I feel a lot better now that my place is clean! Long day at work yesterday. Ended up working a 10.25 hour shift. I had prepared myself though. I was working with a doctor that doesn't hand off her patients. Oh well...if she wants to stay late and away from her babies, that is her business!

Looking forward to making up yesterday's WOD though. Will work that into next week's programming.

Diet: Breakfast: egg white omelet (really wanted to cheat with a pancake, but didn't), some fruit, 7 almonds
Lunch: Salad with mixed veggies (only meat option was something with pasta, and didn't want the extra carbs)
Dinner: lime chicken, celery with peanut butter, zucchini squash
Total Water: 1.5L

Can't Move Legs...

2009-07-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

Wow...I don't ever remember being this sore. Oh wait, yes I do. It was after my first CrossFit workout. These past few days have been a killer on my thighs! Oh well...that's why I love CrossFit WODs!

Today, we took it a little easy since we could barely move. Another 10 minutes on the elliptical to warm up. For the first, and probably last time, I actually enjoyed the elliptical. It was a nice way to warm up my sore legs.

WOD
Bench Press
5-5-5-5-5

45#-50#-55#-60#-65#-70#

I did an extra set just to see if I could. The last two were hard! Funny thing, in my 4 years of high school, I was never able to bench press 70#. So, big improvement for me! :)

After that, we did some bicep and tricep work. I am very anti-machines, but did they with her anyway. Kelsey does have a good point about us needing to build up our triceps. The triceps are the muscle that gets used to exhaustion when doing CPR. So, have to build up those tris!

Then we did our situps. I left my iPod at home, so I didn't have a timer. But it felt to be around the 2 minute mark. Then, it was a nice 15 minute trip to the sauna. I loved sitting in the sauna! Reminded me of the box! I miss the box! Excited to get back there on Sunday!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: egg whites, 2 pieces of bacon, 1/2c yogurt, 5 almonds
Lunch: Salad with chicken, sweet potatoes
Dinner: 7 almonds, 2 pieces of turkey (did not feel like eating, had been nauseated most of the day, and after the WOD...just wanted to shower and sleep)

To prove just how tired I was, I went to bed last night at 8:30 and didn't wake up until 5:30 this AM! Such great sleep!

Day 2....

2009-07-22T04:41:00.000-07:00

WOD for 7-21-2009

15-12-9-6-3
Deadlift
HSPU
Vertical Jump 1 ft above max reach

This is a great WOD. High intensity and works your entire body! For Deadlift, I used 95#. I still can't do HSPU, so I subbed 15# DB. This was done with my friend Kelsey. I asked her yesterday morning if she was sore, and she was like I feel it a little in my thighs, but not too bad....hehe...just wait until later.

Kelsey used the 45# bar and 10# DB. She finished in 6:01, and I finished in 6:11. technically, it should be a few seconds faster since I have to start and stop the time on my ipod. Oh well. Last time I did this workout, I used 65# on the deadlift and 15# DB. My time was just a little over 5 minutes. I didn't realize that the extra 30# would add a minute to my time. There is a lot of room for improvement with this WOD. We will probably revisit this next month.

Cooldown: I did 50 situps, time: 2:00, one second faster than yesterday! Kelsey did 100 crunches in 2:05

I actually had a day off yesterday! It was such an interesting concept. I am so used to working a ton, that when I have days off, I am not quite sure what to do. Caught up on my grocery shopping, tanning, and cleared off my TiVo. Very productive day!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 1/2 c granola with 1/2c 2% milk, 2 tbsp protein powder, 10 almonds, 3 strawberries, 2 slice of turkey bacon
Lunch: baked chicken breast, salad, 8 pecans
Dinner: California Club at Applebees, a few fries, small piece of banana split cake (Another dinner with my friends for a birthday. I took the cheese off, and didn't use the ranch dressing that was supposed to come on it. And the banana split cake was what she wanted for her birthday, if you haven't had my cake, you should seriously try it! It's amazing!)

After dinner, I had left over banana split cake. So, instead of taking it home where it would eventually go in my mouth and straight to my ass, I took it to work and made them eat it! Kelsey was at work, and I was asking her how she was feeling...she could barely move! LOL. The soreness finally sunk in from Monday's WOD. Will probably work on upper body today due to our soreness.

Are You Ready My Friend?

2009-07-21T05:02:00.000-07:00

After hearing me talk about how much I love CrossFit, one of my friends decided that she wanted to work out with me and have me talk her through the joy of CrossFit! Boy did she not know what she got herself into....:)

WOD for 7-21-2009
21-15-9
Dumbbell Thrusters
Push Ups

Rest 3 minutes
4 x 100m row sprints

Cool Down:
50 sit ups

The posted WOD was a running workout. I wouldn't have minded doing this WOD, but my friend Kelsey has problems with her hips, something about them literally dislocating if she does too much running, so I had to change it up.

I think the workout that I came up with was a nice introduction to CrossFit. I had a mini skill session to show her how to do Thrusters. She did really well. Results are as follows:

Kelsey: 4:47 with 8# DB
Me: 5:07 (Take a few seconds off as I had to start the timer and put it down) with 15# DB

Now for some strange reason, while I was doing my last set, I thought I had to do 12, so I ended up doing 21-15-12....no sure why, but that's what ended up happening, so my time would have been about 15 seconds faster...Kelsey's time would have been faster but before the last set she took about a 20 second water break...I think she was tired! Hehe...

After this fun little met con, and we are sitting on the ground out of breath, I asked her how long would it take you on the elliptical to get this out of breath and your heart pumping this fast? Her response "Oh, about an hour and a half.." So, I took an hour and a half of work and got the same results in 5 minutes...not bad!

Rows:
They do have two rowers, but one of the straps was broken. Kelsey tried to use the broken one, but that didn't work out too well as her time was 33 seconds for the first row. She used my rower after that. Her second and third rows were about 26-27 seconds, and her last row was 23 seconds!

For my rows, the times were between 20-21 seconds. Which is my usual...not sure how to get this under 20, will work more on it.

Sit Ups:
She laughed at me when I told her that Sandy, Carrie, and I do 100 situps for cool downs. Being that this was her first, I cut the number down to 50. About halfway through, she had this pulling in her hip and it was really uncomfortable, she felt like her hip was popping, so she finished it out with crunches. Not quite sure how to fix this, but will talk to one of the coaches to see what's going on.

Times:
Kelsey: 2:07
Me: 2:01

Overall, I think it was a good experience. I think she thinks I am a little crazy, but hey, that comes with the territory. Diet for yesterday was fair. I did well for breakfast and lunch, but dinner was sushi! Yum yum!

Breakfast: Egg White Omelet, 2 pieces of bacon, 1/2c pineapple
Lunch: Salad with 1 large pecan crusted chicken breast, 7 almonds
Dinner: Sushi: Catepillar Roll (had avocados, eel, another type of fish, rice, seaweed, and eel sauce) and Crazy Monkey Roll (more avocado, salmon, cashews, rice, seaweed, and cucumbers)
**Dinner was shared with another person, so I didn't eat the whole roll by myself. I probably only had about 6 pieces. Oh, and 3 alcholic drinks. I bought two and the bartender gave me one when he was making some for another customer....always pays to flirt with the bartender!!!

Just One of Those Weeks

2009-07-18T06:39:00.001-07:00

So, week didn't start off the best, and while the rest of the week got better, still had a ton of stuff that needed to get done. On Wednesday, I had planned to get my windshield fixed, and well...I didn't know that I had a rain sensor on it, so it had to get fixed on Thursday. So, I get that fixed the next day, BUT the mirror that they replaced it with didn't come with the right part for my windshield mirror. So, they had to glue it, but I had to come back later that afternoon to get the mirror fixed.

Went to the Rancid/Rise Against concert Thursday night! Wow! I don't really know Rancid, but for a bunch of old guys (Band's been together for 18 years), they rocked it out! Rise Against was freaking amazing! So much energy! I was in the front, and had to leave the pit...it got way too rough for me. Normally I can take it, but just couldn't that night. CrossFit definitely pays off when going to rock concerts. I was able to jump up and down and rock out for about 3 hours and never really got tired! It even almost felt like I was back in the box! It felt like it was 100 degrees, and everyone is sticky and sweaty...fun fun times! Seriously though, Rise Against, great energy! I highly recommend going to one of their shows next time they are in town!

Friday....more errands to run with the car. Planned to go to the noon class, but the place where I get my oil changed couldn't get me in until 11:30. And then he tells me that I need new tires...grrr...I am spending more money on this car than I am on me! Oh well..I have to get around.

Carrie and I went to see Harry Potter last night. The movie was good, however, there was a LOT cut out. I think that they could have played up the Half Blood Prince more and needed more of the private lessons with Dumbledore. While I do think that it was an excellent made film, it felt a little rushed to me. I am glad that they will be taking the 7th book and making it into two movies! And yes, even though I knew that Dumbledore was going to die, I still cried!

Carrie, it was great watching the movie with you! You kept me laughing at all the funny parts, and our side comments! I hope that we can go see something again soon! And maybe you can come too Sandy! :)

Ah Push It! Push It Real Good!

2009-07-15T09:21:00.000-07:00

WOD for 7-15-2009

Push Press

20-20-20-20-20

First of all, this week has not gone exactly how I would have wanted it to. I missed Monday due to my doctor keeping me almost 3 hours over my scheduled shift. So, by the time I got off, I was exhausted and hungry. I know, no true reason to miss CrossFit, but I was starving and didn't think I could have given it my all. And then after work yesterday, I had to go out of town to watch my parents house and take care of the 4 dogs and all that fun junk.

So, today I went to back to my high school and did today's workout. I kinda modified it some due to not having a lighter bar to start out with. I wanted to do all 100, so here is how I broke my reps and sets down:

20 @ 45#
20 @ 50#
10 @ 50#
10@ 50#
10 @ 50#
10 @ 55#
10 @ 55#
10 @ 60#

I would have much preferred to have started off on the 33# bar and worked my way up, but after my first set at 45#, I knew it was going to be a long workout. So, the 20 at 50#, I decided to just do sets of 10. Since I was working out by myself, I decided that after each set, I would do box steps on a taller box. So, I did 100 push presses and 100 box steps. Whew...what a workout!

Something positive that I learned today, was that my mental game is stronger than I thought. It would have been so easy to just not go and do it on my own. I could have stopped anytime I wanted. While I didn't do the WOD EXACTLY as it was written, I did it in a way that I could finish and be happy with my results. Not once did I think about quitting. I just kept thinking that I had to finish, and I did, but I did it on my terms. It felt great to be back lifting weights! Can't wait to get back to the box!

Diet has been pretty good. Had a good day yesterday, with only a little cheat of ice cream that was brought in by the hospitalist group. Marble Slab...yum!

Breakfast: egg white omelet, 6 almonds
Lunch: Chicken breast, salad, and sunflower seeds

It's Great to Be Back!

2009-07-13T04:20:00.000-07:00

WOD for 7-12-2009

KettleBell Ladder

Thanks Sandy for doing this workout with me! It was a lot of fun! I used the 26# KB since it was my first day back in a month. It was a lot of fun! I started ripping my hands on round 10, I think. I had the goal to get to at least round 15. I made it 20 full rounds, and then 10 on round 21. I really could have done more, but my hands hurt so bad, and getting all the chalk on my ripped hands didn't feel well. So, I stopped. I am actually quite happy to have gotten 20 rounds. I will do better next time!

I know that it's been hot recently, but I didn't realize HOW hot it was in the box. Wow, just standing in the box made me sweat! It was so nice to see everyone! Pretty sore today, and my hands are so torn up! Good thing I had dermabond at home!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 1/2c granola with added protein powder, almonds, strawberries
Lunch: 1 chicken breast, seasoned with lime and other random spices, 1 apple, 8 almonds
Dinner: 1/2c vegetable soup from central market, 3 slices of turkey
Total water intake: 2L (need to increase this with the Texas heat!)

School's Out For The Summer!

2009-07-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo!! School is out! I am sooo happy! It is time to get back to a relatively normal life, or at least normal for me.

After I got my test back on Monday, I calculated what I would need to get on my last test to get an A. I needed to make an 82. I was like, that was totally doable. This stuff wasn't that bad. It was the GI and musculoskeletal system. Yesterday, I hit a wall. I couldn't study anymore! This happened at about 3:30 PM. Ugg...a whole half of a day, and I felt like I couldn't look at it anymore. So, I put the books up, and did some housework.

Today comes around, and I am up like normal, 0500. It came too early. I get to school, get some good studying time in, and take the test. Wow...this test was kinda hard. Wish I didn't hit that block. But, the things that I really didn't know, weren't in my notes anyway, so oh well. I took my best guess and went on.

Grades are posted, and well...I made a 91! Woo hoo! So, my grade for PathoPhysiology is an A! I am so happy! I worked hard all semester, and it finally paid off! Now, for a break from school, and time to get back to my home at CFDC! Can't wait until next week!!!

Stare at the Sun!

2009-07-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday, the day that I have been waiting for since April arrived. VANS WARPED TOUR BABY! My favorite band of all time was playing (the only reason I went to be honest). I saw lots of good bands, some decents ones, and some that I wouldn't even want to see for free. But that's how the tour goes right? Weather was great! Overcast for most of the day. Had a few sprinkles here and there. But it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I think it was mid 90s for most of the day. It was still hot though!

Also, the big highlight to yesterday was that I actually got to MEET THRICE! Fuck yeah! Ok, so I get it that I am a total dork, but seriously guys, that's why you love me right? I took a CD cover with my just in case, and they signed it, and shook my hand. Pretty sweet! Ahh...memories!

Their concert was bad ass! I had fantastic "seats". (Standing outside, no true seats). I started off with only 3 short people in front of me from the barrier from the stage. Once the show got started, everyone is moving forward and moshing and you just get pushed closer. I ended up moving ahead of like 2 people! Again, freaking stoked about that! I could totally see the sweat dripping off their foreheads! They put on a great show like always. Even played two songs off their new album due out in October.

I wish I had more friends that were into this kind of stuff. It truely is an experience. The only bad thing about being this close to the stage, you constantly have crowd surfers being thrown over you to get over the barrier so they can go back to the back and do it again. I got kicked in the back of the head a couple of times. Was sandwiched between two really smelly fat people, and was constantly being smashed into the guy infront of me. Sorry dude!

Overall, fantastic experience. Wouldn't change it for a thing. The only thing I would have changed would have been that Senses Fail and Thrice didn't play so close together so I could have seen both bands. Oh well!

Points to remember for the next Warped Tour:
1. Don't go when you have a kidney infection, really makes the day long and tiring. Also, it makes your back hurt the next day from getting hit in the pits.
2. Put on sunscreen. I wore what I thought was enough, and it wasn't Still have a nasty sunburn on my shoulders. So, not only do I have a kidney infection to deal with, I have a sunburn too. grr..
3. Send tons of fliers out to all the obese people who think it's ok to walk around with their tub of lard hanging out all day (ie shorts and bikini top). Your husband/wife may like to see your fat jiggle when you walk, but I don't. Wear a tank top.
4. Bring more snacks. I only brought one snack, should have brought more. Even though I wasn't that hungry while at the Tour, but man, was I hungry when I got home!
5. Don't have a test that next morning. Leads to stress while trying to enjoy the shows. I kept constantly thinking about Lungs and Kidneys....blah!

Speaking of tests....I did have a test this morning. Like I mentioned, it was about the Lungs and Kidneys and the bad things that can happen to them. I went into this test knowing that it was going to be my lowest score by far. Once I saw the test schedule, I knew I wouldn't have enough time to prepare for it like I would have had for the others. But it didn't matter, Thrice was coming to town. And it was just one test right? And then having to go to the ER last week and being diagnosised with pyelonephritis didn't help matters at all.

Funny thing is, even though I put probably the least amount of time studying, I somehow pulled off a 97! Really not sure how that happened, since there were about 10 I didn't know, and was just like, I haven't had this letter in a few, I'll pick that one! LOL. The curve was very generous, as always. But hell yeah! 97! Woo hoo!! That is actually the best I have done on a test this semester. Maybe I should go to more all day concerts before tests....hmmm....lets not test this theory.

Well my friends, this is the last week of PathoPhysiology. No more of me bitching about how stressed I am (at least until the fall). Looking forward (and slightly nervous) to return to CrossFit next week. Have some other issues that need to be taken care of (ie my cracked windshield). So, that means I will have to miss a day or two to get that taken care of. But I will be back! And Sandy, as soon as I am off my antibiotics, I will start thinking about taking you up on that drink!

Blah!

2009-07-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

So, this morning at about 0300, I woke up with a severe pain to my right flank. Grr...Now, for the past 3-4 days, I have been having some dyuria. Great, I had a Urinary Tract Infection. So, I was being me (ie stubborn) and thought that I could treat it myself. I started taking over the counter AZO, and increased my water intake. Yesterday, the dysuria improved, so I thought that I had it beat! Boy, was I wrong!

When I woke up this morning I was pretty much like "FUCK". I knew what I had. I took another AZO, and tried to sleep. Yeah....that didn't work out so well. I was poking on my abdomen to make sure that I didn't have appendicitis (Right Lower Quadrant) or maybe gallstones (Right Upper Quadrant). Neither one of those places hurt. Which is actually a good thing. Wouldn't want my abdomen to get cut open. Except now, I am feeling nauseated. I kinda like having my parts. So, I reach around, and tap on my right kidney....and I fell to floor and started crying. In hindsight, probably wasn't the best idea, but it confirmed my suspicions....I had pyelonephritis (kidney infection).

I get dressed, and went to work. I walk into the ER, and find Dr. Bunting, and asked if she would write me an antibiotic. She said she would, but then told me that I should probably check in since I was crying from the pain. Checking into the ER that you work at is a little strange. Everything looks so different from that side. It was really nice though, I got top notch service. The charge nurse helped draw up my meds while my nurse was starting my IV. The night doctor ordered me some good drugs! I ended up getting a liter of IV fluids, 6mg of morphine (we normally start off giving 4mg, guess I looked that miserable), 60mg of toradol (anti-inflammatory that works great with kidney problems), and 4mg of zofran (anti-nausea). Man....I love drugs! Never really felt "high" or incoherent. But it did take the pain away.

When I checked in, my heart rate really surprised me. I checked in with a heart rate of 123! Normally my heart rate is in the 40s-50s. So, knowing that my heart rate practically trippled, kinda freaked me out. Helped me to know that I really had an infection. Blood pressure stayed normal, which was nice. After getting the morphine, my oxygen saturation dropped, which was expected. Narcotics mess with your respiratory drive, which is why you worry about people with narcotic overdoses and them stopping breathing. But I didn't think that my oxygen would drop as low as 90% (95-100 is normal) Ok...lab results:

White Blood Cell Count: 18.6 (normal is 4.5 to 11)

Electolytes were normal. Kidney function tests normal, no dehydration. Liver Function Tests normal. Woo hoo!

Urine Analysis: (listed are the abnormals)
Moderate Blood
Protein 100mg
Red Blood Cells: 10
White Blood Cells: >150 (eewww....that means that I had pus in my urine) Definitely not cool.

Dr. Holland came in, and confirmed that I had pyelo. Said that my urine was nasty dirty....which I can see that from the results. So, I got IV antibiotics (Rocephin), and was sent home with antibiotics and anti nausea meds. I am feeling better, but if I move wrong, I still get a twinge of pain.

Lesson for the day: If I start feeling that I am getting a UTI, go get some meds. This could have totally been prevented if I had gotten the antibiotics early. I think that's what upset me the most. My stubbornness got me a worse infection. Grr...lesson learned! Plan for the rest of the day...relax and maybe sleep on the couch....

Oh, AND for those of you that know me and my stubbornness....I totally went to class after being discharged from the hospital. Funny thing is, we were studying pyelo in class today! LOL. I told her that I had pyelo and I was just discharged from the ER. She told me to go home, but I went to the first half of class to show my dedication, or my stupidity. At the break she told me that if I am not feeling well, that I can totally take Monday off (we have a test on Monday), and take an incomplete and make it up when my antibiotics are finished and I am well. Apparently, pyelo can lead to renal failure if it goes untreated or takes a sudden bad turn. I don't think that will happen to me, but will still proceed with caution. I like my kidneys! So, everyone, love your kidneys and urinate after having sex!

Another Mini CF Workout

2009-06-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

WOD for 6-30-2009

10-20-30
Squats
Push Ups
Squats
Sit Ups

OK....my time was horrible for this. I never had the best endurance when doing air squats. My hips always seem to tighten up. Which given that I was born with my hips rotated inwards and my history of sciatica. But I still get the workout done. I may never be the fastest, but I get it done. Just more for me to work towards.

Time was 9:28

Diet:
Breakfast: 1/2 cinnamon raisin bagel, egg whites, apple slices, 4 almonds
Lunch: Chick-fil-a chicken sandwich, minus the bread,
Snack: apple slices with yogurt
Dinner: Salad, baked chicken, sun flower seeds

Lubb Dubb

2009-06-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Starting week 4 of summer school. Ug...I am so exhausted. I honestly don't remember being this mentally tired. I am so ready for a break. Sunday can't get here soon enough for the Vans Warped Tour! :)

But anyways, the test today was hard, not as hard as the Neuro test, but still hard. Ending up making an 86. Thought I did better than that, but oh well. I will take it and not be picky. I don't have the energy to be upset. Already read the chapter that we covered today, and will soon start on tomorrow's chapters once I finish this blog.

I wish to digress for a minute and share an experience I had last week. So, a "friend" owed me some money from when we out a couple of times. Now, I am not talking like $20, I am saying more like $200. He didn't have a job, and we wanted to go out, so we went out and I picked up the tabs. Not that that is a big deal, but when someone spends $200 on alcohol...I don't make much being a scribe. He reassured me that he would pay me back, so I didn't think too much of it. So, I asked him for the money (it has been 6 months since we out). Well, that started a HUGE fight. He decided that he wanted to attack me. Which is fine. I can handle myself. I found it rather humorous actually. I was called, and I quote: "socio-pathic narcissist", "condescending bitch", immature, someone who is only book smart and will never amount to anything, and someone who has "daddy issues" (somehow me taking a pole dancing class means I have daddy issues). Whatever, that's fine. Bring it on. I never really tried to attack him. I did mention that it is not my fault that my mother is paying for my college. To which he replied that his parents would have but he didn't want to mooch off them like I was. I did say that "sorry you weren't smarter and let them pay for it". Apparently, that meant that I called him stupid. Oh well.

The ONE thing that pissed me off the VERY most was when he said, and again I quote because I am "not smart enough" to make this up, that "Nurses are only people who are not smart enough to become doctors". WOW. I know tons of nurses that are brilliant. What he doesn't know is that the nurse spends more time than the doctor ever will with the patient. It is the nurse who makes sure that things go right. Yes, the doctor may order the medications, but is he the one who makes sure that the patient doesn't stop breathing from an adverse reaction to the drug? He doesn't do the titers to make sure that the patient doesn't go into volume overload. Just things to think about the next time you are in a hospital. If you want to get on bad side, say something like that and see if I don't reach across the table and smack the shit out of you...

Ok, so I do think I am smart enough to become a doctor or a PA. I didn't get in. Instead of trying again and shelling out tons of money for application fees, I applied to ONE nursing school and got in. 2 days before I took my GRE (for PA school applications) I buried my grandfather and wasn't in the best states of minds before my test. I did pass, but only did OK. So, that's probably the reason I didn't get into PA school. But I am happy with where I am at in my life right now. I don't regret a single thing I've done. I am where I am supposed to be and doing what I am supposed to be doing at this point in my life.

Needless to say, we are not friends anymore, and I am not getting my money back. Oh well. Nice to know that that malignant cancer is out of my life. However, if he does step into my ER, I will make sure to get the biggest needle and find the smallest vein I can, and have fun poking his arm. :)

Mini CF Workout

2009-06-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

WOD for 6-28-2009

"Invisible Fran"
21-15-9

Air Squats
Push Ups

100 sit ups

SO, thank you Sandy! I really appreciate you making me take a break. Wow...do I miss CrossFit more than ever. First of all, my apartment is not a very motivating place to workout. Second, it is not nearly as hot as the CFDC gym, so it doesn't really make me feel like I am getting the added bonus of sweating a ton. Third, I miss the people.

Results:
Invisible Fran: Time: 3:03

Not too horrible seeing that I have been away from CFDC for almost 3 weeks.

Sit Ups: 4:40

Horrible time. Tried to use a pillow to sub for an ab mat...yeah, that didn't work out quite so well. But hey, I did it. OK, enough break time, must go grab a shower, and then eat and finish studying for my test tomorrow morning!

Diet:
Breakfast: 2 whole wheat fiber waffles (CrossFit recipe approved), 1c strawberries, 2 pieces of turkey bacon
Lunch: 1 chicken breast, 10 baked sour cream and onion lays potato chips, 2 pieces of celery, 7 almonds
Dinner: 4 slices of turkey, salad with sunflower seeds

Week Number 2....Anyone Miss Me Yet?

2009-06-22T13:20:00.001-07:00

Ok...so week 2...done and over....thank God! Now on to Week Number 3.

On Friday, I had a major freak out on the way to work at 5:30 in the morning. Now, of course the majority of the normal people in the world are still sleeping at this time, so I guess you are wondering how I had time to freak out. Well, I had been up since 5, so I had time trust me. As I was walking down the stairs, everything from the past 2 weeks just hit me all at once. I knew that I was under stress, but to have all of my stress come down on me at once, just freaked me out. I was wondering if I had it in me. Do I have what it takes to get through this? Am I no studying enough? What happens if I make a "C"? (I have never made a C in my entire life, and only have made 4 B's throughout my entire life...not bragging, just trying to give some background about me).

So, after taking several deep breaths, and talking to my nurse friends at work, I knew that I was going to be okay. All of my life, I have tried to be the very best. Not just the best that I can do, but be better than everyone else, and if I wasn't better than everyone else, I thought I failed. This past weekend, I have come to the realization, that I don't have to be better than everyone else. I can only do that best that I can do, and that HAS to be good enough. I have made this realization before when it comes to CrossFit Workouts, but have never really applied it to my personal life. For those that have known me forever, they realize how big of a step this is for me. So what if I am not the curve breaker anymore. I am attending one of the best nursing schools in Texas. By attending the best, it means that things will be harder. And I am not one to step down from a challenge. One thing that they mentioned in orientation was that in order to get through Nursing school, you need to make sure that you have the support and understanding from your friends and family. And I know that I am so blessed to have such a great support system. When this is all said and done and I have my license, I know that it will be worth it. So, thank you to everyone who is supporting me. You will never know how much you mean to me!

Overall, the material for this test was more interesting. We covered the Endocrine and Reproductive Systems. Endocrine was kinda boring. I liked learning about what goes wrong with female organs and the diseases that we can get. There was A LOT I learned from this section. Like, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) is the number one cause of preventable infertility and ectopic pregnancies. Things that can cause PID would be an STI or a bacterial infection. And after getting some diseases, it is recommended that you wait 10 YEARS from the initial time of contact before she should have a baby or else she might pass it on to her child. 10 YEARS! Holy cow! Ladies, wear protection! And there was some other neat/gross pictures of diseases and conditions of the male genitals. (I think that gross medical things are actually kinda cool, but I am weird like that...not like y'all didn't already know that)

As you can see, I am still alive and soaking up tons of medical knowledge. As I was going through this test, I felt great the entire way through. Finished a 100 question test in 30 minutes....almost freaked me out, but then I remembered my new attitude about just doing the best I can, put my test on the desk and walked out to check the CFDC blog. Made a 94 on Test 2..FTW! So, as of now, I have a 90 average. *Fingers crossed* that is stays up. This next section is going to be tough. We will be discussing blood (and its components) and the cardiovascular system. This will be a LONG 300+ pages to read in a week. Maybe there will be a lot of graphs and pictures! Hehe...

My First Week

2009-06-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

I know that this is supposed to be my CrossFit Blog, but I figured I should write SOMETHING so Lindsey has something to read at work! That and for the 4-6 people that actually read this, you guys will at least know that I am still alive!

I wish I had a killer CrossFit WOD to report back on....but alas, I don't. I have spent the past week in PathoPhysiology hell! Oh well....one week down....4 to go! First week was studying the nervous system. Wish I could tell you that it was fun. But the only fun chapter was the one on schizophrenia. Ok, the brain tumor information was interesting, and Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's...ok so maybe there was some fun stuff. But overall, it wasn't that much fun. What was really neat was that when I went to work this weekend, I got to see some things that we were discussing in class. For example, we were talking about Parkinson's, and then I had a patient who had the disease, and I was just sitting there watching his tremor. It was a resting tremor (present at rest) of his right hard/forearm. And as I sat there watching him, I was thinking, ok, so he doesn't have a lot dopamine in his system. I look at his meds, and he isn't on L-Dopa (medication to increase the amount of dopamine). I wonder why he wasn't on this medication. Who knows....

Things that I have learned this week:
1. I hate not going to CrossFit
2. I hate spending 60+ hours a week studying
3. I miss work (Shocking, I know!)
4. I miss my friends

So far, this has been my routine for Monday-Thursday
5 AM: Wake up, check the blog, become sad that I can't go, small breakfast
6 AM: Leave apartment to go to school. Avoid traffic and get to study away from distractions (i.e, CFDC blog)
9 AM: Class...kinda boring since my teacher just reads off her notes. Every now and then she will tell a really funny story.....remind me to tell you the story about the differences between and malignant and a benign tumor....it's funny...
12 PM: Get out of class....drive back to Plano. Eat a little lunch
1 PM: Study
2 PM: Still studying
6 PM: Ok, where did my day go? Seriously? I've been studying all freaking day!
7 PM: Getting a little hungry, debate with myself whether to eat or continue studying, will have something small so I don't waste time
8 PM: Really getting tired of sitting in this chair....will shower.
9 PM: Go to bed and start the day all over again.

Now, let me remind you, this is just ONE class. Yep....all this time for ONE class. What am I going to do when I am taking 13 hours in the fall? Will have to seriously rethink my social life. First test, I made an 86 (after the curve)! Woo Hoo! FTW! Ok, normally, I wouldn't get excited about a B since I have never really been a B student, but after those 100 questions, I will take what I can get!

Week 2: Endocrine and the Reproductive System....Wish me luck!

I Miss Crossfit!

2009-06-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

WOD for 6-10-2009

Tabata Deadlift

Ok...so I missed Monday and Tuesday. Trying to get a routine developed for school. So far, school sucks. I go to class from 9-12ish, and then come home, break for lunch, and then study pretty much from 1-9. Thing is, I read the stuff, and I don't really know how much I am learning right now. Not to the cramming phase yet. Just the making notes stage. Would rather be running or doing burpees than sitting at my table writing and writing and writing. No clue how peole who work 9-5 jobs can do this all day! I get so bored sitting in one place! Ok..to the workout.

I used 125# for the workout. I really wanted to do 150#, but I was warming up and I felt something wrong in my back...so I went to 125#. Got 37 reps...should have been much much more since deadlift is one of my best lifts. Probably shouldn't have even done the WOD, but I wanted to. My back is oh so sore! Oh well...yeah for motrin! Well, sorry this isn't long guys, but I am late for hitting the books!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: egg whites, turkey bacon, 3 strawberries, 6 almonds
Lunch: 4 turkey slices, almonds, 3 carrots
Dinner: none
Total Water Intake: a freaking lot!

Diet for today:
Breakfast: didn't eat, did 6AM WOD
Lunch: 3 slices of turkey, 4 almonds.
*not really hungry, so just not eating.

No Ifs Ands or Buts...These Kids Got Guts!

2009-06-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

WOD for 6-7-2009

Push Press
10-10-10

Met Con:
21-15-9
Box Jumps
Push Ups
Pull Ups

So normally I blog the day after my workout, but I start school tomorrow, so I figured I would go ahead, blog now and get it out of the way. Today was a pretty low key today. Finished an 8 day working streak...man...54 hours takes a lot out of you. So, for the first half of the day I just relaxed...such a strange feeling actually.....People at work always ask me where I find the energy to go workout after working a shift, thing is, you just do it. Yeah, you are a little tired, but you go and do it. You are either tired at 5 in the morning working out, or at 5 in the afternoon. People need to stop making excuses and just get their butts in the gym and go work out. Ok...no idea where that little tandem came from.....ok, back to the WOD.

Push Press....I was really excited to do this (I must sound like a friggin' after school special....excited to do a workout? :) My upper body strength is one thing that has always been lacking. I have got really strong legs, and I just wish that I could build up my upper body as quickly as I have my lower body. I can do the Rx'd weight for girls in FGB, which is a plus in my "win" column for being able to do SOMETHING Rx'd. The trick to this workout wasn't just about strength, it was about endurance. Can you do the weight 10 times without resting?

Working Sets:
45-55-65-75x 8

I felt that starting off with the 45# was a good place since I knew that I could do 10 of those. Then we went up to 55#...still felt good with that weight. So, for the third set, we jumped to 65#. Still felt really good after the 65#, so for "fun", I tried 75#. I knew I could get it at least once. Several months ago, I did 90# once, so 75# once shouldn't have been a problem. Well, I did 75# 8 times....I ALMOST had the last 2. My arms were so tired. I will take the eight!

Then, I did a cool down with Carrie. 3 rounds: 15 glute ham sit ups, 15 back extensions.

I thought that the workout was done after that...but oh no...Spencer had a nice little Met Con for us. 21-15-9 Box jumps, push ups, pull ups....grrr...and I didn't wear tennis shoes today. So, I substituted box steps. I used the medium box for the step ups. I figured that doing step ups on the small box wouldn't do me much good. By going to the taller box it was definitely more tiring than the smaller box. Still doing knee push ups, but they are 1000X easier than when I started. I can knock out those push ups fairly quickly now. Pull ups...used the green band. I need to get back to the blue band. I can do several with the blue band, just nervous because they aren't as consistent.

Time for Met Con:
5:46

Diet for Today:
Breakfast: 2 whole wheat flax seed waffles (recipe taken from another Crossfit site, threw in several almonds), scrambled egg whites (cooked in 1tsp olive oil), 2 peaches,
Lunch: breakfast was eaten later in the morning, so no lunch for me
Dinner: chest meal! sandwich from Baker's Brothers (only ate half the bread), 1/2c baked potato soup, 9 almonds, 3 carrots, 2 strawberries
Total Water Intake: 2.5L

What's The Price To Pay For Glory

2009-06-06T05:06:00.001-07:00

WOD for 6-5-2009

Snatch:
2-2-2-2-2

Rest 5 Minutes:
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
KB swings
Burpess

Snatch...still my least favorite lift. I am improving though. I did get a 5# PR. I probably could have done more, but I was really wanting to work on my form. I am still having problems landing in the bottom position of the overhead squat. But I would drop as far as I could, and go down until I hit the bottom position of the overhead squat, hold it for a few seconds, and then come back up.

Working Set:
35-40-45-50-55

I know that 55# isn't that much weight, but I would much rather get good form and gradually increase weight.

For the Met Con...we actually did this Met Con back on 2-19-2009. My time last time was 8:42 with the 26# KB. This time, my time was 8:33 with the 35# KB! So, not only did I increase in weight, but my time was faster! FTW!!! Burpees still suck, but I get through them no matter how ugly they look!

On another note...I was bored yesterday at work....so, I had one of the techs do an EKG on me. Well, my resting heart rate is in the 40s. Normal heart rate is between 60-100. So, this means that my heart is much stronger than it was in the past. My heart rate last year would usually run in the 70s-80s. So, thanks to Crossfit, my heart is pumping strong and being tons more efficient! Which is good because, I only get one heart...and I kinda want to keep this one for a while.

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: egg white omelet, 1/2c yogurt, 1c pineapple, 5 walnuts, 3 almonds
Lunch: Salad, tortilla crusted chicken (took the breading off and just ate the chicken), mixed vegetables, 2 tablespoons almond butter
Dinner: Chicken sandwich from Chick-Fila (minus the bread), salad, 9 pecans, 1 tablespoon almond butter
Total Water Intake: 1.5L

Currently Listening to: "What It Is To Burn" by Finch

Feels Like Fire Inside of Your Veins

2009-06-05T04:31:00.000-07:00

WOD for 6-4-2009

100m Row Sprints x 6

So, the real workout for yesterday was 100m sprints. For the first time, I think EVER , I was excited to run. I know, I think hell must be freezing over or something. I hate running, with a passion. Maybe because it was just 100m, I wasn't thinking that it was going to be bad. Well....on my way to the gym....about halfway down the tollway, I look over at my bad, and realize that I forgot my flipping tennis shoes. (I was coming from work, so I was in my scrubs and crocs). So, yeah...that really kinda sucked. (Seriously, did not forget them on purpose, even though Sam said I did....)

Koy was going to let me run outside barefoot, but Sam said no. So, I got to do 100m Row Sprints. Grrr....

Times looked like this:

1. 20s (Damper 3 setting)
2. 21s (Damper 3 setting)
3. 21s (Damper 4 Setting)
4. 22s (Damper 4 Setting)
5. 21s (Damper 5 Setting)
6. 21s (Damper 7 Setting)

I stayed consistent over the 6 sprints. Next time, I want to get sub 20.

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: egg white omelet, 9 almonds, 1c strawberries
Lunch: Salad, cajun pork loin, 1/2 wheat roll, 8 walnuts
Dinner: 4 slices of turkey, salad with sunflower seeds, 7 almonds
Total Water Intake: 1.5L

Currently Listening to: "Blood Clots And Black Holes" by THRICE

Flames Will Rise and Devour Me

2009-06-04T04:36:00.000-07:00

WOD for 6-3-2009

"Fight Gone Bad"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 10 pound ball,
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 45 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump, (Reps)
Push-press, 45 pounds (Reps)
Row (Calories)

I LOVE Fight Gone Bad! Seriously! 15 minutes of pure fun and work! First time I did FGB was over the Thanksgiving break last year. I finished with 224 reps. Then, I had used the 6# ball, and 35# for the Push Press and Sumo Deadlift High Pull. Now, I am doing the press and SDHP Rx'd. Box jumps...still a different story. I did 5 regular box jumps each round, and then switched to box steps. Still, a fantastic workout. I started on wall balls, and I think that's a pretty good strategy since this is my least favorite. Just go ahead and get it out of the way.

Round 1:
Wall Balls: 24
SDHP: 16
BJ: 20
PP: 17
Row: 11

Round 2:
Wall Balls: 20
SDHP: 14
BJ: 18
PP: 16
Row: 11

Round 3:
Wall Balls: 16
SDHP: 17
BJ: 22
PP: 17
Row: 10

Total: 249..new PR! Can't wait for the next FGB!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: cheat meal, 2 biscuits and 2 pieces of bacon, 1/2c yogurt, 8 almonds
Lunch: Salad, spinach stuffed chicken, 12 almonds, 3 walnuts
Dinner: 4 slices of turkey, 5 walnuts, salad
Snack: strawberries and pecans
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "Firebreather" by THRICE

Late Night, Breaks Lock, Hear the Tires Squeal

2009-06-02T04:37:00.000-07:00

WOD for 6-1-2009

Deadlift:
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Deadlift! My Favorite lift! Of course seeing this on the blog made me pumped! I was looking forward to doing this lift. Last time I did this, I did really well. So...new PR was what I had been envisioning all day. I get to the workout, and was still thinking about my new PR that I was going to set.

Working set looked like:
150-160-180-190-200-215 (f)-215(f)---FTL! :(

Hmm...so....the new PR was not set today. In fact, I didn't even get my one rep max that I had gotten on 5/17 of 225#. Not sure what went wrong today. Pulling 215# off the ground was nothing, but couldn't rotate my shoulders back to finish the lift. When I was doing 200#, my back started rounding, and then it rounded again on the 215# attempts. When I failed at 215#, I think my mind started taking over, and maybe got down on myself. That's the only thing I can think of that might have affected my performance. No excuses for today. I got plenty of sleep, ate well. Just didn't perform like I wanted to. I guess everyone has those days. While I am not thrilled that I didn't get a new PR, I am still happy with my overall progress. I am pulling 200# consistently. I never thought that I would be able to pull 200#.

It's all about your attitude. I am going to try to have a better attitude on days that I don't do as well as I would like. No point in beating yourself up, this will just make you feel worse. Like Sandy says, some days, it's just about finishing. If you finish, you win. And Crossfit is all about winning and doing the best you can do. Some days you do better than others. I love this gym!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 1/2c oatmeal, 1 scoop scrambled eggs, 1/2c yogurt, 12 almonds
Lunch: Salad with mixed veggies, 2 hot wings (skin removed), 6 walnuts
Dinner: baked chicken breast, 6 almonds, 6 walnuts, cucumber slices
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "The Artist in the Ambulance" by THRICE!

Come Take The Pain From Me

2009-06-01T07:03:00.001-07:00

WOD for 5-31-2009

"Anthony"

AMRAP in 15 minutes:
100m run
9 box jumps
6 burpees
3 power cleans
1 front squat

In honor of the amazing Ant at our gym, the workout today was Anthony. Fun stuff. I enjoyed this workout actually. The runs felt good. Box jumps..eh...did little box jumps for the fist 3 rounds, and by the 4th round, my legs were so tired, so I switched to box steps. Burpees...yuck...still doing my modified burpees. I kept telling myself...it's only 6 at a time.. just 6. (They still suck though! Even though it was just 6!). Power cleans...I used 53#. I could have done more weight on the Power Cleans, but after the last power clean, we had to do a front squat. I know that my front squat form isn't the best, so I chose to go lighter on the weight and really work on my front squat form.

I finished 6 full rounds and then a 100m run. I was technically 3 seconds from finishing the 100m run when Sam called time, but I finished out the run, and counted it.

After the workout, I did 3 rounds of 15 glute ham sit ups and back extensions with Carrie and Sandy.

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: granola, 9 almonds, strawberries, 3 slices of turkey bacon
Lunch: 4 lime chicken strips cooked in olive oil, 5 baby carrots, 1 passionfruit tea from Fat Straws with Mango Stars, 9 almonds
Dinner: 3 slices of turkey, Salad with mixed veggies, sunflower seeds
Total Water Intake: 1.5L

Currently Listening to: "Bullet With Your Name" by Scars of Life

Twisting and Contorting

2009-05-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-29-2009

Power Cleans
3-3-3-3-3

3 100m shuttle runs

Power cleans...fun stuff! I had a great time setting a new PR with these. I didn't remember a previous PR, so I didn't really have much of an idea of what I needed to get to. It was also nice to get to work with Spencer. Don't really get to see him much since I normally go to the night classes. Also, it was sooo great to get to lift with Lindsey again! I really do miss working out with you!

Working Set:
53-63-73-83-93- 103 x 1!

I did an extra lift. Once I got to 93, I really wanted to see if I could get over 100. I was able to get 103# once, but then I couldn't finish out the set. I am really excited about the 103#!

Shuttle Runs:
34/37/36

Later last night, I went out with Sandy and Carrie to a pole dancing class! Wow...very fun, but challenging! My legs are a little bruised behind my knees from holding onto the pole. I was better than I thought. The teacher even told me that I moved really well. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing that I could work the pole, but oh well! I think I may take another class. We will see how my schedule works out.

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 1 flaxseed, whole wheat waffle, with sugar free syrup, scrambled egg whites, 1/2c blueberries, 1 tablespoon almond butter
Lunch: 3 slices of turkey, 6 almonds, 5 baby carrots
Dinner: Chicken Deli breast sandwhich, (only half of the wheat bread), 9 almonds
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "Forget to Remember" by Mudvayne

The Seasons Have Changed and So Have We

2009-05-27T04:40:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-26-2009

"Helen"
400m run
21 KB swings
12 pull ups

One of my favorite workouts. When I first saw this, I was excited, until I realized that it was going to 101 outside...ugg.... And by the time that the workout started, I was anxious. But I like the anxiety feeling. It makes me want to do better and work harder. I used the 35# KB for the first two rounds and had to switch for the 3rd round. Green band for pull ups. Time overall was not the best. But, for the first time, I felt pretty good doing the runs. During the KB swings on the second round, I was having a hard time catching my breath. I guess that is what an asthmatic feels like. I have been battling some morning cough and congestion, so that may have played into it. Or the fact that I hadn't really eaten since 8 that morning. That could have played into it.

Time: 16:00

Again, not too happy with the time, but I increased in KB weight for 1/2 the workout, so I am happy about that. Pull ups overall were easier. The third round still kills me because my arms get tired. But that's the point of the workout.

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 1/4c eggs (not much left in the lounge), 2 pieces of bacon, 1/2c yogurt
Lunch: 1c strawberries (unintentional fast, due to work being busy at lunch and not getting a break, and I forgot my back up protein. Not liking the fast thing, makes me grumpy!)
Dinner: 1 sweet potato, 4 chicken strips cooked in olive oil, 1c milk with 1 tablespoon protein powder, 1c strawberries, 1 peach
Total Water Intake: 1.5L

Currently Listening to: "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" By Death Cab For Cutie

Worth Everything I May Ever Be

2009-05-25T05:39:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-24-2009

Shoulder Press
5-5-5-5-5

I used to hate doing shoulder press. Probably because it was one of my weaker lifts. But I was pretty pumped to do this. I took my time and had a nice long warm up. Worked a little on pull ups. I am getting about half way up on the kipping pull up. I will eventually get it. Just takes time.

Working set looked like:
40-45-50-55-60-65 x 3

I probably could have finished the set of 65#, but I paused when I brought the bar back to my chest, and that messed everything up. Next time, I plan on getting at least 75# five times! After the Press, I did 100 ab mat sit ups for time. Time: 4:30. I really do want to start incorporating this into my schedule at least 3 times a week.

Yesterday, I was being nosey and was eavesdropping on some coworkers and they were talking about diet. One guy is on this crazy weird diet where all he eats is some kind of vegetable soup, salad and can only have beef two times a week. (I didn't get all the details, but this is what I was overhearing). He has been eating this for a couple of weeks, and was like "I haven't lost any weight". So, I pipe up and ask him "How much are you exercising?". To which he replied, none. So, I was like, that's your problem. You aren't exercising. But then he was like, "Well, with this diet you are supposed to lose weight and not have to exercise. (Now, he isn't too overweight, just has a few extra pounds from drinking and smoking) I am only consuming about 100 calories with this soup...yadda yadda..." Ok, so seriously, who has ever heard of a weight loss program that does not include exercise? To lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume. Plain and simple. Even if you consume less calories than your Resting Metabolic Rate, that will not lead to weight loss. Or if it does lead to weight loss, it is unhealthy weight loss and your body will go into starvation mode and this will be counter productive. Actually, I have had this converstation with him in the past, and he just seems to blow off my suggestions and everything I have learned from CrossFit.

CrossFit works! Plain and simple. I have seen results. My scrubs fit differently, I have more energy (well, most days I do, depends on my sleep), but just overall, I feel like I am a healthier person. I have not only made new friends, but I have a CrossFit family. This type of community can not be found at 24 Hour Fitness or any place like that!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 1/2c granola (with protein powder added in), 1/2c milk, strawberries, 2 strips of turkey bacon, 4 almonds
Lunch: 3 ounces of chicken, 7 strawberries, 8 almonds
Dinner: 3 slices of turkey, small salad, sunflower seeds, 1 peach
Total Water Intake: 1.5L

Currently Listening to: "Ghost Love Score" by Nightwish

My Spirits Evokin’

2009-05-22T05:54:00.001-07:00

WOD for 5-21-2009

"Tabata Something Else"

Pull Ups
Push Ups
Sit Ups
Squats

This was my first time to do this WOD. It doesn't sound too bad from looking at it, but man...it is exhausting! And I am only talking about after the first tabata! Pull ups were done with the Green band. Yes, I can do blue band pull ups, but I have only done the blue band in a couple of WODs, and it was better for me to get more reps. Didn't get that many...arms for some reason just didn't want to work. Push ups were done on knees. I am feeling better about push ups though. It is getting easier to do them. By the time that I got to the squats, my whole body was tingling. I am not quite sure how some of the guys could crank out 100+ on the squats. My legs were killing me by the 4th round!

I actually had a day off where I didn't have ANYTHING planned. It was nice! I went and worked out with the noon crew! It was great getting to workout with Jamie! Thank you so much girl for pushing me on the squats. I really appreciate the help!

Score:
Pull Ups: 52
Push Ups: 72
Sit Ups: 70
Squats: 73

Obviously lots of room for improvement. But I am happy with my starting numbers. Now I know which areas I can really improve in!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: egg white omelet, 1/2c strawberries, 6 almonds
Lunch: 1 glass of milk with protein powder, almonds, 3 slices of turkey
Dinner: baked chicken, 8 cherries, salad
Total Water Intake: 1.5L

Currently Listening to: "The Band Marches On" by Ghostland Observatory

I Just Want to Sparkle For A Moment

2009-05-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-20-2009

"Randy"
Power Snatch: 75 reps

I was pretty excited about this WOD. I need to work on my snatch form, and this was a great WOD to work on it! I used 40# for the workout. I felt pretty good about the weight. Surprisingly, the reps and the time went by so quickly! I think that I did well with the workout. I almost did it Rx'd, and finished with a time of 6:38!

I am loving having counters! After the workout, I ran the warm up with Sandy, and we talked about counters. I completely agree that having a supportive counter can affect your WOD. Ronnie was my counter, and he really motivated me to go faster and faster. Thanks Ronnie for the motivation!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: egg white omelet, 1 apple, 9 almonds
Lunch: Salad, mixed vegetables, 1/2 wheat roll, sunflower seeds
Dinner: Baked chicken, strawberries, almond butter
Total Water Intake: 1.5L

Currently Listening to: "Be Gentle With Me" by Boy Least Likely To

This Is Going To Bring Me To My Knees

2009-05-20T05:02:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-19-2009

15 minutes, AMRAP:
10 med ball cleans
10 burpees

Nice "fun" met con workout. I used the 10# medicine ball. This is actually a lot harder than it looks. By the third round, my quads were killing me! I could feel the burn! Burpees still suck! When it was done, it is such a great feeling when your muscles are burning and you feel like you can barely stand. I love it! I only managed to get 6 full rounds plus 10 cleans and 4 burpees. Next time, I will do better!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: 1/2c oatmeal, blackberries, 8 almonds
Lunch: chicken with avocado salsa, salad, 9 almonds
Dinner: baked chicken, 2 TBSP almond butter, 1/2c strawberries, salad, , 2 slices of cucumber
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "She Is" by The Fray

We Gon' Party Like it's Yo Birthday

2009-05-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-17-2009

CROSSFIT TOTAL:
Back Squat
1-1-1
Shoulder Press
1-1-1
Deadlift
1-1-1

So...24....not too much different than 23. I am loving where I am at in my life. I have been accepted into TWU nursing school, Class of 2011! (I should probably start studying....) I have amazing friends and a great family. I am truely blessed!!

I couldn't think of any better way to begin my new year than with doing the CrossFit Total. I remember the first time I did CrossFit Total. It was my 2nd ever CrossFit workout. I was so incredibly sore and in so much pain. I had done Angie on my first day..well, I take that back, I only did 1/2 Angie, but I was still sooo sore! Besides being sore, I was soo intimidated walking into that 6PM class. It was huge! And by huge, I think there were 15. I hadn't done lifting since high school, and I was going to be the weakest one these. I do remember getting to lift with Jamie and Lindsey and how they put me at ease. For most of this workout, Sam had me use the PVC pipe to work on form. (That got old real quick...I wanted to know my starting weights so I could improve!!) So, here were my numbers from that night:

11-4-2008
Back Squat: 55# (felt I could have done more, but didn't push it so I could get the form down)
Shoulder Press: 35#
Deadlift: 105#
CF Total: 195#

The next time that CrossFit total came up was about a month later, just before Christmas. Diet had improved and was attending CrossFit at least 3 times a week. Even after just a short time doing CrossFit, I knew I was getting stronger. So, I was very excited to see some results!

12-22-2008
Back Squat: 95#
Shoulder Press: 55#
Deadlift: 175#
CF Total: 325#

Such an improvement over the last one! This was very encouraging before going into the Christmas Holidays!

Over the next few months, there were new PR's set for all 3 of this lifts. Just never with the CrossFit Total. I set a 3 rep PR for back squat on 4-23-09 of 130#. Hadn't had a chance to do shoulder press since December, but did plenty of variations of the press. Deadlift...my favorite lift...probably my favorite since it is my strongest lift. Deadlift on 3-25-2009 was 205#. I jsut finished reading that blog, and I was looking at attitude for that day. I had hit a mental block. Started calculating the weight and doubting myself. I got the 205#, but it was such a struggle.

On to today's WOD. Dun dun dun....here we go.
Back Squat: Was pretty excited about this. I figured if I could do 130# three times, I could easily do 150# once right? So, that was my goal for the back squat.

Working set:
135#-155#-165# (PR by 35#!!!!)

Shoulder Press: Obviously one of my weaker lifts. It doesn't take much to tax out the shoulders. And to be honest, I was just hoping to get 65# on the shoulder press.

Working Set:
65#-75#(fail)-70#-75# (PR by 20#!)

Things to note with this lift. Not quite sure how I started off the working set with more than my one rep max. Probably had to do with the two guys I was working out with. Hit a mental block on the second attempt. So, I went down 5#, got that easily, and then attempted 75# again. Funny thing is, the second time I tried it, I got with no problem.

Deadlift: Was looking forward to this, yet dreading it at the same time. Flashbacks to 4-23 kept popping into my head. I so didn't want to fail, yet, I wanted to improve. First lift, rounded out my back. Grr...and it was fairly light, 175#. Next left, 185#. This should have been 200#, but I got scared. Third lift, I was victorious...a new PR! And funny thing, the weight wasn't that bad!

Working Set:
175#-185#-225# (Oh yeah...a brand spankin' new PR on deadlift. I had them put two 45# plates on each side, walked up to the bar, pulled the weight, and THEN calculated how much I lifted!)

CrossFit Total 5-17-2009=465#!!!

What a great birthday present to myself. Over these past few months, look how far I have come! By no means, is this as great of numbers like Mel, Dee, and Linda put up, but I'm working on it. I will get there. On another note, I had set a goal of 500# CrossFit total by the end of this year....looks like that goal will be met fairly soon!!

Diet for the weekend:
AMAZING!! Let see...there were fajitas, margaritas, red-headed sluts, rum and coke, sangria, Spanish Toast.....and even with eating horribly...I still managed to put up great numbers. But birthday is over. However, I couldn't have thought of a better way to end my birthday than with a great performance!

Currently Listening to: "In Da Club" by 50 Cent

A Testament to Old and New

2009-05-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-14-2009

"Jackie"
1000m row
50 Thrusters
30 Pull ups

Jackie...what can I say about Jackie...this was a workout that I did months ago when I first began Crossfit. I did this on 11-10-2008, exactly one week after I joined CrossFit. I remember doing this with Spencer at the 7AM class. I was thinking, am I even going to make it through the 1000m row, let alone finish the thrusters and pull ups. Somehow, I made it through the row without dying. On to the Thrusters....this was my first time to do thrusters. And lets just say, my form was horrid. I could barely do the 15# bar without falling forward. So, Spencer switched me to the PVC pipe...kinda embarrassing that I couldn't even do the 15# bar. I eventually finished the thrusters, and then on to pull ups. On this day, they were jumping pull ups.

Fast Forward to May 14th, 2009. I don't know if I was excited to do this workout, but curious to see how far I had progressed. I did a good job on the row! I did the 1000m in 4:15, which is faster than I have ever done in previous attempts. In fact, the last time I did a 1000m row for time I finished in 5:25. So, I shaved a minute off my time. Woo hoo! Ah...the thrusters...this one killed me. Or maybe it was the row that killed me. I took forever on the thrusters. Here is where I hit my mental block. Damn thrusters. But I used the 33# bar. So, obviously, big improvement from the PVC pipe. Pull ups, I wanted to use the blue band, but ended up sticking with the Green band. My arms were so tired, and felt like Jello on the pull ups. I did finish. Thank you Georgia and Koy for all the help. I really needed it, especially when I hit my mental block. Crossfit is 90% mental, and 10% physical.

Time on 11-10-2008: 12:45
Time on 5-14-2009: 15:10

Even with a slower time, I feel like this was a win. Everything improved from the previous Jackie. Next time, I will get a much better time, and I won't hit that block.

Diet for Yesterday:
Breakfast: 1c oatmeal, 1/2c pineapple, 6 almonds, 4 strawberries, 1 piece of bacon
Lunch: grilled chicken breast, salad, sweet potatoe fries
Dinner: grilled chicken, salad with mixed veggies, 1/2 c blackberries, 7 peanuts, 4 almonds, and 3 pecans
Total Water Intake: 1.5L

Currently Listening to: "Even Born Again" by Sara Jaffe

If You Only Knew

2009-05-14T06:10:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-13-2009

Front Squat
3-3-3

Met Con:
5 Rounds of:
10 Pistols
10 Ball Slam to Box Jump (holding the ball)

Was not in the proper midset for Crossfit yesterday. Hence my horrible performance. Lifting weights in 90% mental. And I didn't have the mindset. Front Squat, form was crap. Lets just be honest. I knew at 95# that when I went up to 100#, it wasn't going to be good. I should have listened to that internal voice and stopped, but no, I am stubborn, and did 100#. My back rounded, and it just wasn't good. I did get 3 at 100#, but it was the worst form anyone has ever seen.

Working sets were:
90-95-100

The MetCon....pistols were done using a green band. Ball Slams, used the 10# ball, and the small box. Couldn't see the box, so I did box steps. Again, the mental aspect of Crossfit wasn't there. Time was slow, enough said

Time: 10:28

Here is what I am wondering, is it better to go to CrossFit and have a bad day, or just not go at all? I missed the day before due to a friend having a personal crisis, and needing to be there for a friend. So, that is an added stress in my life, and being woken up all during the night by my friend's cell phone going off. I am wondering if I did more harm than good? I can honestly not think of one positive thing that I did in the workout yesterday. It was just a bad day all around.

Diet For Yesterday:
Breakfast: 1/2c oatmeal, 3 pieces of bacon, 6 almonds, 5 strawberries
Lunch: turkey burger minus the bun, (actually it was more like turkey wrapped in lettuce), 9 peanuts, blackberries, 1/2 chocolate chip cookie
Dinner: Salad, 7 almonds, sun flower seeds, and 2 bites of ice cream (told you it was a bad day)
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "If You Only Knew" by Shinedown

Wrote the book on Pain

2009-05-12T04:29:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-11-2009

8 hang power snatch, unbroken
8 handstand push-ups, unbroken
15 double unders, unbroken

Last night was fun! Ok, a lot more fun when I finished than when I was actually doing the workout. Went to the first 5PM class! I like it! It looks like it will be smaller than the 6PM, which is great! The one thing that I will miss will be Lindsey and Sandy! You guys are great! You push me farther than I think I can push myself. I may have to drop in the 6PM every now and then.

So, for the workout...hang power snatch. If I had to pick any snatch movement, I would pick this one. I think that this one really helps me work on my snatch form, which is by far my weakest lift. The point of this workout was to do everything unbroken. We warmed up, and looking back on the workout, I could have done more. Sam and I decided to use 35# as a weight that I could manage without dropping the bar. I did manage it, but when I got finished, Sam told me that since I finished so quickly that I needed to use heavier weight next time. For the HSPU's, I used the "prison-shower-push ups". Now, if you have not seen these, these are a sight to see! You put your feet on a box, pike your butt up in the air, and then do a push up. Feels awkward, and I bet it is hilarious to watch all of these people, lined up against the wall with their butts in the air....glad that no one caught that on a picture. For the double unders, I used the vertical jumping sub. (Like this one way better than tuck jumps, would rather do 2X the number of jumps with the vertical jumps than single tuck jumps).

I was really happy that I was able to do this work out unbroken! A good way to start the week!

Time for WOD: 9:18

Diet for Yesterday:
Breakfast: Bagel (a friend bought it for me when I got to work, it was delicious, but regretted it at the workout), 2 egg whites, 5 strawberries
Lunch: 2 slices of turkey, 9 almonds, 4 baby carrots (wasn't very hungry at lunch)
Dinner: baked chicken, salad with sunflower seeds, mixed veggies, 1/2 c blackberries
Total Water Intake: 1.5L

Currently Listening to: "The Sound of Madness" by Shinedown

I've Done the Best I Can

2009-05-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-7-2009

Thrusters
1-1-1-1-1-1-1

Woo hoo for weight lifting days! My face lights up every time I look at the website and it says anything with one rep max! These workouts let me know if I am improving and by how much. Before going to the gym, you have to know what your last PR was. On 2/3/09, my one rep max ws 75#. I tried 80#, but failed. So tonight, 7 tries for a new PR.

Working set:
53-73-83-93-103(f)-98(f)-93-95(f)-95(fail-ish)

So tonight....just me and the bar. I am standing there looking at it, and I won't lie, had some doubts when I got up the higher weights. But here I am, looking at this bright shiny bar. Sam had me start off my working set at 53#. I was thinking, ok...a little higher than I would have started, but ok. I do it, easy. Sam then says, ok 2 greens. Alright, 20 more pounds, not too bad. Definitely heavier, but doable. 83#...a little heavier than 73#. At this point, I am like...woo hoo! New PR, and I am only on my 3rd rep. Alright, so lets go up to 93#. I got it...it was a struggle, but fuck yeah, I got 93#! Next was the 103#...I go down for my squat, and then come up for the push press...and only got it halfway up. Fail. :( Sam saw me get down. But he kept encouarging me. So, I dropped to 98#. I try this weight...and Fail. I think this one was mental. I really do. I got nervous and started thinking what would happen if I failed. So, by me overthinking things, I failed. Grr...so on to my 7th attempt. Sam had me drop to 93#. Which I got. It would have been embarrassing if I didn't get it, since I already got it once. I thought that this was where the workout was going to end. But no, Sam was like, ok put these one pound weights on. I think he knew that I was hoping for a nice 20# increase. So, I try 95#....ah! So close. The bar is eye level and it just isn't going anywhere. So, I rack it, and Sam lets me have one more try. So, I take a few deep breaths...and approach the bar. Not even realizing it, I did a jerk somewhere on the way up. And even though I DID get the weight over head after a front squat, somewhere technique went awry. But overall, I felt great about this workout. Even with 3.5 fails (yeah, I am stubborn, and want some small credit for getting the 95# over my head), I felt amazing. An official 18# PR! Fuck yes! I will take it, and I am so happy. I am getting stronger, and it is showing in the numbers!

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: an amazing egg white omelet with some vegetables, 1 piece of bacon, 1/2c pineapple, 6 almonds
Lunch: some kind of pork, salad, sweet potato, 1/2c blackberries, 3 almonds
Dinner: baked chicken, 7 pecans, 1c strawberries
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "Second Chance" by Shinedown

Nothing Was As Bad As You Thought It Was

2009-05-07T04:30:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-6-2009

10 Rounds for Time:
10 ring dips
10 pull ups

Seeing this workout on the website I could feel pain in my hands, and I hadn't done anything yet. I knew I could do it, I just didn't know how long it would take me especially with this whole new Chest to Bar thing. I can do a few chest to bar, but 100? I began by using the blue band. That lasted one whole round. Then I switched to the Green Band....and that lasted a whole one round. So, I did the last 8 rounds with the green and blue band. By using two bands, it makes me feel like I am going backwards in my progress. Sure, if we only had to do 30 pull ups, I probably could have just used the Green band after doing ring dips. But after a few rounds, my arms were shot. And it wasn't going to be getting any easier. Granted, with CrossFit, I guess you don't want things to be too easy or you wouldn't get a good workout. I couldn't move my arms for an hour after this workout. Driving is a challenge when your arms feel like jello.

Something that I do like that we are adding to the workouts is a partner or a counter. Sandy, you helped push me through this workout. There was a few times, like around Round 7 and 8, that I really wanted to stop. But I didn't. You really helped keep me motivated and gave me the strength to finish!

Diet for Yesterday:
Breakfast: egg whites, 1 piece of bacon, strawberries, 6 almonds
Lunch: Salad, 3 pieces of chicken with some kind of thick sauce (very tasty, but not sure if it was Zone approved), 2 pieces of ham, 1/2 c sweet potato, 4 almonds
Dinner: 3 pieces of turky, an orange, 7 cashews, glass of milk
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "Smile For the Camera" by Armor For Sleep

Just Like the Crow Chasing the Butterfly

2009-05-06T04:34:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-5-2009

Overhead Squats
15-15-15-15-15

5 minute plank hold

Of all of the squats that we do, OHS is my weakest. When we did OHS a few months ago, I was able to get 65# two times. Sam said that with doing 15 reps and not being able to put the bar down, that I would probably not be able to reach my max.

Working set looked like this:
25-30-35 (f-10)-40(f-10)-45 (all 15!)

I am actually sad that I failed at 35# and 40#. While doing the OHS my arms would start to go numb and then I would get a sharp pain in my right arm. The numbness/tingling doesn't bother me. I figure that is part of the OHS for some reason. Or, maybe that's not normal. When I would get the sharp pain is when I had to drop the bar. It wasn't because of the weight was too much. Although, on that last set of 45#...it took a lot for me to not drop the bar. But thanks to Mel#2...I was able to finish with her encouragement.

CFDC is adding a new class...5PM!!! I am really excited about this. The 6PM class, if not the biggest class, but for sure one of the biggest classes. It's great that we have so many people coming, but when we have something like OHS or Snatch or any movement that some people may require extra coaching. Hopefully by adding the 5PM class we can make the classes a little smaller so that we all get the coaching that we need. Personally, I am excited for the 5PM class. I plan on attending it as much as possible. I like the idea of being able to get home earlier, and get to bed earlier!

Speaking of getting to bed earlier...I went to bed at 8:15 last night! Wow...and I really needed the sleep! Waking up at 5AM today was so easy and I felt refreshed for the first time in a while. Just goes to show how important sleep is when doing CrossFit!

Diet for Yesterday:
Breakfast: egg white omelet, apple, 6 almonds, 1/2 bagel
Lunch: Salad, baked chicken, 4 cucumber slices, sunflower seeds, handful of carrots
Dinner: 4 slices of turkey, 8 pecans, 1/2 cup blackberries, glass of milk (with added protein powder)
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "The Crow & The Butterfly" by Shinedown

You'll Make It Through, Just Keep Holding On

2009-05-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

WOD for 5-1-2009

For time:
800m run
30 Ring Push-Ups
30 Hip Extensions
30 Dumbbell Push-Press
400m run
20 Ring Push-Ups
20 Hip Extensions
20 Dumbbell Push-Press
200m run
10 Ring Push-Ups
10 Hip Extensions
10 Dumbbell Push-Press

Holy cow! So, I saw this workout...and was like this is not going to be fun! Even though I didn't want to go, I went. I was the only girl in the class...which is cool, but then it is hard. I did parallette push ups for the sub on the first round. The hip extensions were easy! And for the push press, 20# DB. The first round was a killer! Second round...not so much...the third round...you can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I did finish the workout! It was great to have the guys cheering me on even though they finished minutes ahead of me. Koy...I really do appreciate you pushing me to get sub 20. I needed it! I am so lucky to work out with such an amazing group of people.

Diet for yesterday:
Breakfast: egg white omelet, 1 apple, 6 almonds
Lunch: 4 slices of turkey, 2 tablespoons almond butter with apple slices
Dinner: 4 ounces of chicken, salad, strawberries, 12 peanuts
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "All if Forgiven" by Default

I'm Working It Out, I'm Working

2009-05-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

WOD for 4-28-2009

3 rounds for time:

10 Clean and Jerk
15 Ring Dips
20 Kettlebell Swings

When I first looked at this workout at work, I thought that it was going to be a lot of fun....boy was I wrong! During the first set of ring dips...I realized that this was not a fun workout. I liked everything else, but the ring dips. I used 65# for the clean and jerks! The last time I did clean and jerks was back on 3-10-09, and I did 50# nine times. A 15# increase is a huge bonus in my book! Used Green band for the ring dips. For the KB swings, I did the prescibed weight for girls which was 35#! Woo hoo! Another small victory...I'll take it! Thanks Kat, Sandy, and Koy for cheering me on..I really needed it during that last set. My arms were like jello!

Had an interesting conversation with my little brother this day. He finds it funny that I am doing all of this CrossFit stuff. He says that he can't imagine me lifting all of this weight and working as hard as I have been. I can't wait to bring him to the gym one day, and totally kick his butt at Helen or Fran!! It will be a sight to see!

Diet:
Breakfast: Egg white omelet, 2 pieces of bacon, 1/2c pineapple
Lunch: Tilapia, Salad, 1/4c rice pilaf, 8 almonds
Dinner: baked chicken, salad with mixed vegetables, sunflower seeds
Snack: strawberries, blackberries, almonds
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "Banquet" by Bloc Party

Hit You In The Sweet Spot

2009-04-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

WOD for 4-28-2009

WOD # 1
800m run
22 SDHP
500m row
22 SDHP
800m run

WOD #2
5-4-3-2-1
Snatch
100m weighted carry

Monday, I was supposed to be playing in a charity golf tournament...stupid rain...so, instead of going to CFDC, I took a REAL rest day. No work, no working out...just plain resting. I really needed it. Granted, I just sat around the house and caught up on Tivo, but I really did just need the day off. I should take more of these....just not in the cards right now though.

WOD #1 was from Monday (which I missed). It was rough! The first run wasn't too bad. I feel like I made good time for me. On the SDHP, I used 65#, which was 20 more pounds than I have done in a workout. No clue what my one rep max is with this lift, but I am interested to see. The weight wasn't too bad...the first set. The second set...man, it felt like it weighed a ton! Time wasn't the best for this workout. I rested a lot more during the SDHPs than I should have.
Time: 19:50

WOD #2:
Snatch...hate it...which means that I should do tons more right? Normally, I would do 45# for the snatch. I have some issues with my form. 45#, good form, 50# ok, and 55#...I usually end up messing up. Either going to far forward, not getting low enough in my squat, or going backwards. But that was a couple of months ago. I did use 55# in this workout. I had a few mistakes, but I really do think I am improving overall. The other part of this workout was the carries...For the first 2 carries, I used 60# (2-30# DB)...wow...heavy. I probably used too much weight because my arms were shot after the first WOD. The 3rd one I used 2-26# KB, and for the last two....I used the 26# KB. Kinda sucks having to go down so much weight. But next time, I think that I will just start off with the 2 26# KB and I should be able to finish with just that weight.
Time: 11:20

Diet for yesterday:
Morning snack: peanuts and strawberries
Lunch: 1 club sandwich from Jason's Deli (minus the bread), mixed fruit, 3 almonds
Snack when I got home: 7 peanuts (no more snacks before workout, makes my stomach queasy)
Dinner: 1 beer (corona), 2 strips of pork tenderloin, maybe 2 ounces of chicken, 1/2 potsticker (didn't eat all of the potatoes in it, maybe 2 small bites), 1/2 oatmeal cookie, and then blackberries (when I got home from Liver Rounds)
Total water intake: 1.5L

Yep, diet not great for this day. It was crazy busy at work, and we didn't have time to run to the cafeteria and get food. And of course, the one day where I don't bring snacks and meals, is the one day that I don't get to eat. Lesson learned!

Currently Listening to "Wrestlers" by Hot Chip

Fight the Good Fight

2009-04-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

WOD for 4-23-2009

5 rounds, for time of:
Push Jerk 10 reps
10 Box Jumps
10 Burpees
200m Run

Rest precisely two minutes after each round.

This workout was actually a lot more fun than I first thought it would be. I admit, I was not looking forward to this workout when I saw it posted. Maybe it was the fact that I was so exhausted when I went to work. After work, I went and took a 2 hour nap...and that was so nice! I really needed it. Without the nap, I may not have been able to do this workout. For the push jerk, I used 55#. I had been debating on whether or not to use 45-50#. Thank you Sandy for the push to do more. Sometimes I don't know what I can or can not handle. Next time...65#. I think that Sandy and I will do something similar to this on Pre-WOD. But maybe switching up a few things here and there and probably just 3 rounds. Still using the small box on box jumps. But I am not doing box step ups any more....baby steps right? Eventually I will move up boxes. It just takes time for me to get the mental aspect of the box jump down.

Time: 18:17

Diet for Yesterday:
Drive to work snack: 15 peanuts
Breakfast: egg white omelet, orange, 6 almonds
Lunch: Salad with mixed vegetables, chicken (~4 ounces) (not sure exactly what all came with it, it was chicken in some kind of tomato based sauce. I tried not to eat a lot of the sauce since I didn't know what was in it, but it was very tasty!), 1 apple, and 1/2 wheat roll
Snack: 9 peanuts, 3 almonds, 1 cup strawberries
Dinner: Salad, 3 baked chicken strips with random spices, 1/2 cup yellow squash
Total Water Intake: 2L

Currently Listening to: "Madeline" by Tickle Me Pink