Daily Battles

Well, work is starting to limit my workouts. Magazine deadlines....what do you expect? In the end, it's probably helping me to keep from over-doing it. It turns out all that kicking did a little damage to my hip rotator or so my chiropractor says. Very reluctantly I took 3 days rest to recover a bit.

Today at CrossFit we did Fran, a benchmark workout. It actually went really well. No pains, no problems, just a great workout. I was so happy to be able to lift and thrust 55 lb. On a few occasions I would get the weight almost all the way up, but my left arm was still bent and felt like it was going to drop the weight. I had to muster every ounce of strength I had to push it up where the arm was straight. When I finished I really felt like I accomplished something. Even though later I found I had the slowest time, I still felt good about the workout. My arms/shoulders are definitely getting stronger. Every workout puts me that much closer to getting "fit."

With the pull-ups, I'm now doing something that is in between a jumping pull-up and a real pull-up. They take more time, but I'd rather get to where I'm doing them standardly than to try to beat some jumping pull-up speed record. Of course, the calluses are really starting to form now!

The battle I'm dealing with this week is the nicotine monster. It's week number two as a non-smoker and interestingly enough it is getting a bit more challenging instead of easier. Week number one was soooooo easy. I couldn't believe it. But perhaps with the added stress at work the monster inside has become hungrier and it is harder to keep him at bay. I have zero intention of feeding him though. He will just have to suffer.

This got me thinking...it seems we always have some kind of inner battle going on. It could be the nicotine/caffeine/sugar craving monsters, the fear demons, the inhibitors and suppressors that keep us from achieving what we want, doubts, conflict of desires, etc. It's just the game we play to keep life interesting and not boring. But if you can step back from these inner battles, you'll see that none of this is actually you. Think of it more like a parasite that got stuck to you somewhere along the way.

The good thing is you can handle them and be control over them. Once you acknowledge that fact, the battles become easier. You can be more you and they can be beaten into submission. That's how I'm dealing with my monster....by putting him in his place and treating him like the parasite he really is. The good news is that it only takes 3 weeks for nicotine to leave the body, so I'll have more to write about then.

Workouts:

8/7

Four rounds for time of:
-Run 400 meters
-75 lb (45 for women) pound Sumo deadlift high-pull, 21 reps
-75 lb (45 for women) Thruster, 21 reps
Time: 33:00

8/8
7am workout

Ten rounds for time of:
-12 Burpees
-12 Pull-ups
Time: 28:24

10pm workout
2 hours of power dancing (I didn't name this!)

8/9-8/11
rest days

8/8

Fran
Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 lb (65 for women) Thruster (I ended up doing 55 lbs.)
Pull-ups
Time: 15:56