Trouble Walking? Me? No! I'm just...CrossFitting

So tonight is my third CrossFit class this week and fourth total. A few things I've learned this week:

1. Somewhere between fifth grade and today, I forgot how to jump rope. This skill simply evaporated from my repertoire and I look like an absolute fool even attempting it. I trip over the rope, get the rope caught in my pony tail, miss a foot and tangle myself in the rope. It's sad, just sad. My solution is to buy a jump rope this weekend and practice.

2. I never knew what sore meant until now (well really until my marathon). I can remember being sore, or what I thought was sore after training, but this is a new level. My legs are so sore, I can barely sit down and stand back up. The stairs become a tremendous feat, hell even walking is difficult. Every time I roll over in my sleep, I wake up from the severe pain and effort it takes to move even the slightest bit. My body hurts!

3. I used to think squats with dumbbells were a pain...that was until I started doing over head squats and wall balls. Now, I'd give anything to squat with a 12lb dumbbell.

4. Thank God I trained for two years - the skills I learned are certainly coming in handy. While there's no doubt I feel like the new kid on the block at CrossFit, at least  have some sense of what I'm doing...sort of.

Tonight we're doing upside down push ups (yeah right), pull ups (I'll be doing a modified version), box jumps (again, they'll probably have me to a modified version), toe to bars (ha, yeah right) and MORE squats. We'll see how it goes. I'm enjoying the challenge and the discipline and accountability I have by going back to some form of training - it helps to keep me on track. I'm also trying the paleo diet, although very modified  and only every other day. I do miss carbs . . . I'd like a bagel.

What gives me hope, is that if I keep it up, hopefully in six months, on my 27th birthday, I'll feel a sense of real accomplishment seeing all these expected changes in my body. And hopefully I'll be a ripped beast!

Here's hoping I can walk tomorrow!

CrossFitting!

I finally took the leap and attended my first CrossFit class at the CrossFit Danbury box yesterday. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I worked with a personal trainer for about two years and ended up losing close to 40 pounds, which I gained in college (forget the Freshman Fifteen, it's the Freshman Forty!). Working with my trainer Amanda, I substantially increased my strength, endurance, everything. But since I've moved, I've been looking for something to replace that training. Not to mention, for the past four months I've been mainly focusing on my running...and since the marathon, I'm ready for a change of pace.

Thanks to a new colleague who joined my office a few weeks ago and my friend Brian's encouragement, I finally went to my first "beginners" class yesterday. Before diving in, I had all these scary thoughts about what I was getting myself into. All I could think of were all the intense, beast-like photos I had seen of friends lifting insane amounts of weight. I was nervous I'd embarrass myself or not be able to keep up.

Thankfully, all that personal training came in handy. I was able to keep up, despite some of my lingering marathon issues, and felt relatively strong throughout. I think we came on a day with a fairly easy WOD (Workout of the Day), as my friend Brian promises me it's going to be much more intense, but I've decided to commit to going three days a week, starting next week. Brian assures me I'll be a ripped beast in six months, so here's hoping!

Honestly, it was amazing how supportive and encouraging everyone was. These were people I had never met in my life, telling me I was doing a good job and helping me to make sure I was doing the exercises correctly - definitely a change of pace from the typical gym. There is also a level of competitiveness, which for anyone who knows me, knows I love. I think this could end up being really good for me, although I promised Karen (Brian's wife) I won't get too obsessed - we'll see!

I'm looking forward to continuing with it. Not sure if I'll adopt the paleo diet that comes along with CrossFit, but I am pretty confident I'll reach my goal weight through this program, as long as I stick to it. And maybe even make some new friends...which we all know I need to do since I moved.

Here's the WOD I completed yesterday:

1. STRENGTH/ SKILL WORK
5X5
PRESS
REST 60 SECS
5 STRICT C2B PULLUPS
REST 60 SECONDS

2. WOD
4 RFT
400M RUN
12 PP 95/65

So here are my main CrossFit goals:
1. Get to my goal weight
2. Do a pull up
3. Do a full push up (chest to the ground - as of now, I can do a very small one and totally kick butt on the girl version!)

So if all predictions are accurate, by April, I should be a ripped beast. Here goes nothing!