{level one certified with a side of food}

I landed in Reno Friday afternoon at 12:30 and arrived back in Kalispell Monday at 12:45, twenty minutes earlier than scheduled.  When does that happen?  I spent two days on the University of Nevada-Reno’s campus, which is quite pretty, at a CrossFit level one certification.  Who knew you could be so sore from moving, moving, moving with a piece of PVC pipe.  We sat in lectures, practiced fundamental movements, worked out, practiced movements, worked out, listened to lectures, snacked on all sorts of Zone/Paleo food (nobody would have been caught dead with any other kind of food), practiced movements, worked out, etc, etc, etc.  I am still tired!  By Sunday night all I wanted to do was curl up, rest my weary knees and fall asleep.  But I did what any follower of any healthy eating plan does after a long weekend of fitness and healthiness, I cheated!  I had a French Dip (what bread????), a side salad that consisted of  iceberg lettuce and a 16 oz. bottle of blue cheese dressing (That’s  not how I ordered it.  That’s how it arrived at my table), a very loved and longed for Corona and lime and with the help of one of the cert trainers, a beautiful, large, moist, chewy, almost orgasmic chocolate brownie.  It did have some crap on the top like a couple of sliced strawberries and a plump blackberry, but I quickly discarded those.  I have never had a better cheat night.  My night of indulgence was celebrated and cheered on by three of the cert trainers.  Nobody appreciate’s a good night of crappy eating like them.  It was glorious.  I have to admit I haven’t quite climbed back on the Zone wagon, but tomorrow I will be.  Preparations are in order as I type.  I have a pan of broccoli cooking, turkey patties on my George Forman grill [I know.  How gay is it that I have one?  But, I love it. :)], containers out for my food tomorrow, cans of tuna on the counter waiting to be opened and stored in the fridge, chicken and lean burger thawing and peppers waiting to be chopped.  It’s time to hit it hard.  Next week is going to be a good week for a fresh rested me.  On top of all this food prep, I am taking a recovery week.  I believe I started to hit an overtraining cycle in my training.  I wasn’t recovering from workouts and feeling totally exhausted and not seeing results.  So after a long weekend of certifying I thought it was the perfect time.  I am loving it, but at the same time feeling terribly guilty.  We’ll see if I actually make a full week, but I’m going to try hard.

So back to the certification.  I’m very glad I went and planned to before I was even asked to coach at the gym.  I’m just that kind of a girl.  More fitness info, please.  People keep asking me, “how does it feel?”  Honestly.  I’m very glad that I did it for myself and for our gym.  All of my friends, CrossFit and otherwise have been very supportive and I appreciate that, but you know what?  It doesn’t feel like it means anything.  Any Joe off the street can attend these certs and there is no testing at the end.  Show up, do the work for the weekend and you get a nice CrossFit Level 1 certificate when the weekend comes to an end.  (But, apparently you can’t be a total dick and get one though.  Heard of a story of a guy that they refused to give a certificate to.  He was an ass and they said they didn’t want him out representing CrossFit.  I thought that was great.  I respect that.)  There were two people that attended that have never done CrossFit. But, now by CrossFit’s certification standards they can now coach at a gym, open an affiliate, etc.  That is the bummer.  However, I’m pleased and proud to know that I did the work beforehand that does qualify me more than they are.  It is still kind of a letdown when you think about it that way.  However, I need to make it known that a great majority of the people attending were strong, hard working, CrossFit drugged individuals.  It was fun to be around so many different CrossFit shirts and tore up hands. 

So I start a new CrossFit adventure now.  Gaining experience as a coach, learning from my coaches, our gym members and my mistakes, and making a difference in people’s lives.  Isn’t that really what CrossFit is all about?  Changing lives one athlete at a time. 3-2-1-GO!

{the wrath of the filthy 50s}

We do girls, we do heros and we do filthy stuff at our gym.  All workouts that will shred you in anywhere from 3 1/2 minutes to 54 minutes.  Tomorrow will be no different.  I will have my second meeting with “The Filthy Fifty”.  The Filthy Fifty was conjured by some sick CrossFitter that thought 500 total reps in a single workout would be a good idea.  And you know what? Ask any CrossFitter and they will say, “Yeah, it is a good idea”.  This workout will test you to the core.  Your VERY core.  I naively went to battle with the 50s after three days of very little sleep and no food.  Foolish was I.  Hell, I’ve given birth three times with no drugs.  I’ve survived tragedy in my life. I’ve survived “Fran” and “Fight Gone Bad”.  50s?  You don’t scare me.  Well, I should have been a little scared.  I figured, I’ll just pick a steady pace, just finish the workout. I wasn’t worried about time.  That was a great plan until the wall ball shots, the third to last skill.  About 10 shots in I thought, “this isn’t going to be pretty”.  25 shots in, “oh crap, I’m only half done and I seriously think I might pass out”.  Somehow I finished, onto burpees.  10 down, oh SHIT! Turn around and fall to my knees. About 10 more, turn around and fall to my knees AGAIN.  About 10 more, grab the nearest rower and hold on until the dizziness goes away.  During this a friend told my coach, “Pull her!  She has hardly eaten or slept in three days”.  Coach B, “no, she can do it” And here is where the encouraging words of an excellent coach and a will you didn’t know you had will push you to your limits.  Five burpees left and Coach B grabs my hands and tells me,”you only have five left, you can do it.  After you finish you will skip the double unders and give me 50 singles and then you will sit down on that tire”.  Believing him I step back and somehow finish those last five burpees with my friend doing them and counting beside me because I was too gone to count.  50 singles and a seat on the tire.  How the hell did I do that?  How the hell did I push through that?  How?  I CrossFit.  It lights a fire in you and breeds an athlete that maybe you didn’t know was there.  So tomorrow, I say give it to me you Filthy 50.  I know what you can do to me.  You tried like hell to drive me into the ground and I won.  Tomorrow will be no different.  Give me all you got and it still won’t be enough.  I win.