Thursday, May 24, 2012

Back to Normal

I went to bed last night at 2:30 a.m. and woke up at 6:00 -- 3.5 hours of sleep. Great. So much more 'normal' than the 8 hours I got yesterday. I actually wasn't tired when I got up. I think I was still a bit giddy from last night. The only thing that worried me was that I knew I had a long day ahead of me.

My students had their final exam today. It went smoothly; I'll find out their results (computer graded assessment) on Sunday. I hope they did well. I'm so glad that the semester is nearly over!

I  met with KD for our usual Thursday fruit salad lunch. It was a quick one because I needed to get home and get ready for my second day of CrossFit.

Before class started we were all standing around and chatting a bit. We got on to the topic of our age. Now, yesterday when I was in the class, I looked around at the other 8 girls (including the coach) and thought, damn, I must be the oldest one here. Most of the ladies are slender/athletic looking. It was hard not to let that get into my head, and I tried not to let it screw with me mentally. I knew that I would try my hardest. I knew that I had a lot of work ahead of me. I knew that I could put in the work and effort. Still, seeing others move with so much more ease (part of which has to do with not having as much weight on their backs) did make me feel a bit self-consicous. Then today, hearing all their ages, all in their mid-20's with one who was 31 ... and then me at 35 (though it was nice of them to say I looked like I was in my 20's, and I know this is because of my chubby cheeks lol). I just told myself, age is just a number. I've never had a problem with my age before. I'm not going to let it psych me out now. I just had to remind myself that this is my personal journey about me improving my health, strength, and fitness level. Focus. Don't distract yourself. Focus!!

We did several warm-up exercises and then focused on finding our max for deadlifts.
I managed 60 kg (132 lbs). I tried 80 kg (184 lbs) but barely made it off the ground ... definitely a goal to work up to!

Our WOD:
Ball to wall throws/squats [throw a 3 kg ball high up the wall and squat low as you catch it] plus jump rope

As one person was doing the ball to wall throws, the rest of us were jumping rope. We did rounds of 40, 30, 20, 10 ... by the last round, those squats were really burning my calves.

It doesn't sound like a big workout, but OMG - it really does get you breathless, especially given that in between you're jumping rope while the other members are doing their ball to wall throws.

My shoulder is a bit achy. I think it's from yesterday's pull ups. It doesn't feel serious, but I need to make sure and rest it a bit.

I'm still feeling a bit flustered, and even though I did set up a schedule for myself, I don't seem to be having much success sticking to it. The thing I seem to need most right now is rest, so I'm just focusing on doing that at the moment. I'm still working out and watching what I eat (though I'm still eating too much) but I'm not sticking to any strict schedule. With just over a week left in the challenge I'm not sure if this is the best strategy, but it's all I've got to give at the moment.


4 comments:

  1. I know what it's like to fee like 'the old one' in a situation. And it can be unnerving. At work, the average age of my co-workers is about 22. So I'm always feeling like the old, fat one. At CrossFit, it is quite the opposite. I am definitely the youngest in the class (at 32) and least fit. All the other women are in their 40's.

    I haven't done the ball to wall throws yet but I know how sucky jumping rope can be! It's crazy how simple the wod's seem in the written word. Doing them, however, is a totally different story!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know - when I saw the WOD I thought, Ok, I can do that ... 10 minutes later and I'm praying that the coach calls time because I just don't want to jump anymore!!

      Delete
  2. You are very strong. I think the heaviest thing I've ever lifted was a box that weighed 45 pounds. That was when I was in my middle twenties. I barely got it from the floor to the scale on the table. Hope your shoulder gets better soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've definitely enjoyed seeing my strength increase over the past eight months. I owe it entirely to the New Rules of Lifting for Women program. It's been amazing.

      Delete

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! I can use all the support I can get :)