Summer Challenge

Alright, most of y'all probably know about this, but we have ourselves an old fashioned throw down happening this summer. Its a straight up battle of the cults between Triatheletes and Crossfitters! That's right, its almost like the whole Vampire vs Werewolf thing, but totally not cause that's just weird.

My former Sister-in-law has poked fun at me for being in the cult of Crossfit, talking funny, eating differently, working out at odd hours, etc. Well, she's now drunk the Kool Aid of Triathlons and has become somewhat obsessed herself. Given this reality, I offered the challenge in her own chosen sport of Triathlon. I spoke out of bravado and unrealistic confidence. On Labor Day, she and I will face off at the Avia Triathalon to see whose fitness routine will reign supreme!!

So, now I'm pretty sure I've bitten off more than I can chew. At least I now have a goal to work for all summer. I'll be spending some time in the pool on top of the Crossfit and Boot Camp and will need to find time to ride some as well. If nothing else, its going to force me to work my ass off this summer.

So, there it is, will a Crossfit-centric workout be enough? Stay tuned and see how this challenge turns out!

Discipline

Well, as my thousands of readers know (ha!) the last week was a struggle. Didn't sleep well, was stressed, and it showed in my workouts. It also showed in my nutrition. I spent 8 weeks of the Crossfit Challenge focused on my workouts and nutrition and saw significant results. Over the last week as I got tired and stressed I let that discipline slip and stopped eating as well as I know I need to.

The problem with this is that poor nutrition completely exacerbates the stress, sleep issues, and poor workouts. Its totally a self reinforcing cycle of bad that I fell into. Stress led to poor sleep, led to lack of discipline, led to making excuses. Now, I didn't totally go off the reservation, but there was more non-Paleo meals and foods than there should be. I shouldn't wonder why I'm struggling when I don't do the things I know are good for me and make me feel better. As a high school PE teacher once said 'I may be stupid but I ain't dumb' which I take to mean you don't have to be smart to stop doing bad things.



So, how to get out of the bad spiral and back into the Circle of Awesomeness? Well, for starters, I'm going back to the yellow book that got me through the Challenge. I recorded every workout and every meal in that book for 8 weeks and now I'm going to continue that. No more slacking, knowing I have to write it down will help me make the right choices. Second, I'm going to take advantage of Coach Zach to keep me honest and look over my journal. Finally, proper preparation prevents piss poor performance. That means taking the time to get my food together the night before so I have good nutrition ready to go. No more excuses to eat crap because I didn't take the time to make food ahead of time. Its not hard to do the right thing and eat well, it just takes discipline. There's venison back strap cooked up, and a sweet potato is in the oven, tomorrow will be a great day of good food, a good workout, and a return to the Magic Focus Laser Intensity (thank you Jeremy Thiel, that will be in my brain forever!).

Thoughts on the Halfway Point

Most anyone reading this blog knows I'm doing the I am Crossfit Challenge through Crossfit Central. We're just past the halfway mark and Coach Zach asked us to post our thoughts and progress towards our goals on his blog. Well, I can say that I'm making progress. Haven't done a pull up yet, and need to really practice that over the next 3 1/2 weeks if I want to make that goal. My pants are fitting looser, and I've lost some weight (although pounds is not the focus). Finally, I'm getting faster, I've been able to stay in the same round as the faster people in the group. Haven't kept up, but I'm not getting lapped anymore, which is nice. So, progress is being made.

The thing that sets Crossfit apart from other workout programs and gyms is that it focuses on improving your whole life, not just your fitness. I don't know if this is just what they do at Crossfit Central, or if its part of the larger Crossfit philosophy (or cult as some would call it). I appreciate the hell out of it whatever it is. The first day of I am Crossfit wasn't a gung ho, let's workout whoo hoo kind of thing. It was a very deliberate exercise in goal setting for your whole life, not just 8 weeks of working out. Yeah, that was part of it (a Magic Laser Focus Intensity), but what they really wanted us to think about was 10 years down the road, what we want to be, and how we can get there. I'm a Planner, I help cities look 10 years down the road but I've never done it for myself until that night. Now, I do have a list of goals, a larger direction for my life that I didn't have before. Crossfit is a tool to help you accomplish the goals in your life, its not the be all, end all of your life, if that makes sense.

That's what sets Crossfit apart, yeah, its a kick ass workout that is more effective than anything else I've done, but its a whole life thing, not just the one hour you're at the gym. The other thing that's different is the attitude of the coaches, they're all wicked fit, but they don't have that cockiness and 'I'm the king turd of poop mountain' you see in a lot of big box trainers. They'll kick your ass and push you harder than you thought you could be pushed, and they definitely don't take whining and excuses, but its about making you better, not boosting their own egos.

Anyway, that's thoughts for the day. I'm beat down today, the Endurance WOD yesterday (4.5 miles of 3 minutes at 80%, 1 minute 50%) and Karen today wore me out. I'm hoping it helps me sleep. Sleep has been elusive the last week or so, taking a LONG time to fall asleep. I'm working out, I'm not hitting caffeine in the afternoons, I'm eating right, so I don't know what the deal is. I guess there's some subconcious thinking happening, but I can't figure out what it is.