New Lifestyle?

My life has been changed....for the better obviously.  I just finished a 6 week nutrition challenge at the Crossfit box where I live work out at.  It was fairly simple and straight forward, which I like.  It was a modified paleo diet (if you don't know what paleo is just Google it), which basically meant meat, vegetables and limited fruit.  Our rules modified it in that it allowed diary and did not allow ANY natural sugar (maple syrup, honey etc.).  It also limited alcohol to 1 glass of wine or 1 shot of tequila a WEEK (that was probably the hardest piece for most of us). You could score points for eating clean, getting to the gym 3 times a week, not drinking and then completing a challenge a week.

Through my brother and his lifestyle I've been subjected introduced to the paleo lifestyle, in a non pushy way of course.  I even got a Christmas present to read all about it, but never really wrapped my head around eating left over meat for breakfast, so I never really tried.  Besides I knew my weaknesses and knew that even though I was close to being paleo, I like

• chocolate
• to drink copious amounts of wine
• and I stress eat

Brother

Yes, I did read it

So I figured I'd do the challenge and I remember saying to John that my goal was 4 out of 7 food points the first week, well I surprised myself and got 6 that week.  During about week 2 I was sold on this, I had WAY more energy than ever before (never had the mid afternoon slump), I felt good and honestly the scale was dropping.  While I try to live my life only slightly by the number on the scale, after having done Crossfit for over a year and seeing my measurements change but not the scale I was a little disappointed.  I was keeping my expectations in check talking to people who had done challenges before and never lost a pound.

Well 6 weeks ended yesterday and I lost 3" between my waist and hips measurements and dropped 14 lbs!  If I wasn't sold before I am now!  We also did 2 WOD's at the start of the challenge and are currently re-doing them to compare results. I have to do the final one tomorrow, but from today I increased my ring rows by 16 and went up 15# in my squat clean.

While I know that I'll keep this new lifestyle, I also know that I'm not going to feel guilty when I eat or drink something that isn't paleo friendly as long I as do it in moderation. Besides I ate peanut butter cups yesterday and they gave me a headache!

Now off to have a glass of wine (red wine of course)

The Incident

So I've been sitting on this one for awhile, which seems to be the story of my blog posts.  In the meantime I also had to change phones so lost the pictures I wanted to share and haven't figured out how to get them back off the old phone yet.

Either way, I had an incident....one that I'm not proud of.  I now park in an underground parking garage and it has this huge concrete poles all over the place.  Well I pulled into the garage one day and wasn't going very fast (obviously) but must have been looking around the corner for a spot and cut the turn too close. Needless to say the concrete pole was no match for my little Sentra. 

So sad day when I dropped it at the body shop and they said it was done, they were right, I had destroyed the door so badly that the insurance company totaled the Sentra :-/  I'm still pretty bummed as the Sentra was the first car I ever bought, had been with me for 11 years and 2 major moves, first to VA and then back to her home in CT.

On the bright side, I didn't get hurt, no one else got hurt, but nothing like having to buy a new house and a car in the same summer right?!?!

One Year Crossfit Anniversary

So one year ago I had my first official WOD (workout of the day) at Crossfit 1st Due. I had finished my on-ramp or introduction classes and was released into what we at 1st Due referred to as "general population."  I knew from my first few on ramp classes that I was going to be addicted, I just don't think I realized how much Crossfit would change my life.

Some of my highlights from the last year:

• I lost 17.5" and counting from my body measurements
• My deadlift is up to 250 lbs.
• I hit a new split jerk PR last week at 105 lbs.
• I can front squat 120 lbs.
• I completed all 5 WOD's for the open, without scoring a 0 in any of them!
• I've completed WOD's with names like Fran, Christine, Grace, Kelly, Nancy to name a few
• CF has also opened a whole new language between my brother and I! You should check out his box (www.crossfitgenesis.com)

While there's lots that I still want to accomplish, I will always hold Crossfit 1st Due near and dear to my heart for really introducing me to crossfit and allowing me to spend LOTS of time both working out and just hanging out there over the 10 months I had them in my backyard.  I miss you all.  I'm looking forward to seeing more growth during my time at Crossfit 203

Summer of Transition

I've been thinking a lot about transition(s) lately.  Maybe because my life has been one major transition for the last 2+ months and I don't think I've slowed down enough to fully process them all.  I remember talking to a friend of mine, from an airport of course, about this move right before I made it and she said "you won't actually process it until August."  Well you know something it's August and I think it's all finally just hitting me. 

As I talk to all of my campus friends, they are gearing up for staff retreats, student leader trainings and most importantly the return of students.  While the return of students to campus will mean our office gets busier, it's a different kind of busy than I am used to.   There's no students just hanging out in my office, nor is there a couch, which means my fall will be different and I'm ok with that.

I've slowly settled into a new condo (after living with all my belongings in storage for 2 months) and figuring out what my life in CT looks like, with a commute longer than 1.5 miles and no longer having the Crossfit box 1 block from my house.  So far life in CT looks pretty promising both personally and professionally. 

I'm a home (condo) owner!
 

I'm still so thankful for my time in VA and there are things I miss (the 1.5 mile commute) along with things I don't miss (not having a million Dunkin Donuts nearby) but, overall this has been a "fairly smooth" transition. I just need to remember that I can't get everything done in a day and that eventually I will finish unpacking all of those boxes in the condo!

Changes

Wow it's been awhile since I posted, I guess it's time to get back on it.  Life is changing and quickly at that!  I have recently announced that I am leaving Longwood University to take a position with Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority (AEPhi).  While I am excited for the next step in my personal and professional journey but its going to be hard to leave this wonderful community.

My home for 6 years

As I think about my time here there are lots of great memories and like on all journeys some not so great memories but you gotta accept those too.  There are many things I am going to miss...very little traffic and a SHORT commute being two that I can think of as both of those are out of the window when I get back to CT, along with the friends that i have made here who have become like family to me. 

As I start my crazy transition to Danbury, CT and AEPhi I am looking forward to being able to get back to my fathers (and crazy nieces and nephews) more often.   I've even started planning an "aunt" weekend where I get to spoil the NY kids and send their parents away..win win!  

I believe that things happen for a reason and as I drove back from a board meeting to give notice the next day I saw this rainbow and I think it came at the exact moment I was questioning what I was about to launch myself into.

So bear with me as I make this transition and find a place to live along with getting settled around working and traveling (don't ask about the first six weeks).  Farmville and Longwood will always hold a special place in my heart for many reasons.  Also as a wise friend reminded me this weekend...don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened!

Making the Jump

Sorry it's been awhile...life got away, not really, let's just say I was out enjoying life.  While a recap would be fun, it would take way to long.  So the highlights since Thanksgiving....a week in Indy, Christmas parties galore (including the infamous Cedarpalooza), a trip to NY, 14 days in London, surviving the first six weeks of the semester and then another trip to Indy sums it up in a nutshell.  But on the to the real stuff.

This week I've struggled at Crossfit and it's frustrating.  This sign hangs at the door of Crossfit 1st Due when you walk in and I've had to be reminded of it a couple of times.  

There have been a couple of times this year that I have had to check myself.  I've had back issues recently which means that I have had to scale workouts or change out movements all together (which in my head reads: failure).  While I know that's not the case it's been hard.

Then this week happened.  Monday was a fairly simple WOD (workout of the day), some static holds....followed up by 1000 jump ropes.  sounds easy right?  Well the first 100+ were and then it went downhill.  Ultimately I gave up at 500+ and yes I use the word give up because I was SO frustrated that it wasn't worth the stress and anger that it was creating internally. 

Fast forward to Wednesday...I was SUPER excited about the WOD for some reason. Over head squats and burpee box jumps (google them), but then it started.  I felt (even today as I reflect) that I did not perform to my full ability. I had to drop weight on the squats because I almost dropped the bar on my head a couple of times.  I know I can do a higher weight in OHS (because I have before) but for some reason I just couldn't that night.  I've been told it was just a bad night and let it go, my brother even said that OHS are humbling and welcome to CF.  

I keep playing in my head over and over what went wrong and is there a way to fix it, was I protecting my back, am I getting weaker, was it just a bad night, was it all mental???  All of these things ran through my head.  I took a break last night and am hoping that I can will move forward tonight...hopefully without a meltdown this time.   


I guess I just have to keep making the jump.