OK, so I don’t know what the right word is for “friendly uncaring.” I posted something on Facebook today, and everyone seemed to be all weirded out by what I said, so I guess I will have to tell the story (first) and in telling it, try to ‘splain (Lucy).

HERE is a link to the photos that I took – if I take more, I will put them in this album on Facebook, but I’ll try to remember to name them with the “Day” that it is (so these say Day One where it has to do with specific photos, the more “general” ones I didn’t tag with a “day”).

So this is my “first day of Crossfit” story.

When I turned in the Groupon on Friday, the gals in the “back office” definitely didn’t know what to do with me. Apparently, they’d “just been told an hour ago” that there was a Groupon – and I was the first to turn it in. The Groupon is for 20 Crossfit Conditioning classes, all to be taken I believe in a month. (So basically 5 classes a week.)

Pretty much the same thing happened when I got to the box. I had procrastinated mightily, so I wound up getting there like 3 minutes to 9:00. (That was really stupid, my own fault.) Anyway – it doesn’t really seem to matter, since there is a “Warm Up” up on the board, and then there is the workout for the day (WOD). This is a “Conditioning” class, and at this Crossfit, you have to do the On Ramp of I want to say 3 private sessions before joining “Level 1/2” (which is the “real” WOD), or 20 Conditioning classes.

The folks in the class had all been doing it for quite some time, that was very obvious. There was one gal who was coming back from 2 months in Costa Rica, but she was still a “member” of this box. The coach, Anthony, was super nice, but he also didn’t know what to do with me. He hadn’t really been told about the Groupon, either.

Here I am thankful for two things: (1) My Virgoness that has made me research Crossfit like a madwoman for the past week or so, including of course the podcasts from Barbell Shrugged and Girls Gone WOD, and (2) having taken the private lessons at Kat’s Crossfit box. I was familiar with the concept of the box, and some of what “might happen” because of these things.

The thing that didn’t work for me when I did the private lessons  at Kat’s box is that the coach never really introduced me particularly to “Crossfit.” I did what is supposed to be sort of a fitness eval – a row, then pushups, squats, situps – and I couldn’t really do much of anything, and was made to feel very “Less Than.” I did 12 private sessions (which was not inexpensive), and in the end, I did understand some of the things that one can be made to do in a Crossfit box (he made me push the sled, wrastle the big rope with a weight on it, etc.), but not really the concept of the WOD, etc. That coach was very high-energy and had me do a lot of things, but nothing was really particularly strung together. Also, he kept telling me how f*cked up I was from doing the workouts that I had been doing (long-distance running, biking, swimming). Now, the reason I had started was that I KNEW I was really unbalanced, but telling me over and over just isn’t the best recipe.

So, back to this morning. The Coach, Anthony, asked me if I’d done the “assessment” with them (row/squats/situps/pushups), which I had not. He then pointed to the Warm-Up on the board, and said to go out for the run and follow a gal who I also thought was new, but turned out was just back from Costa Rica (400m – around 2 buildings . . . 200m is around one building), then come back. I did run with her, tried to chat a little because I was nervous, and realized that she wasn’t “new” (as I’d thought and perhaps hoped) but “returning.” She assured me that “I’d get it” and all that jazz.

Then we came back, and Anthony pointed out the next part of the Warm-Up, which was 3 x (10 medicine ball “cleans”, 10 donkey kicks and 10  V-Ups). He said first that he wanted to see me squat, and of course from my previous experience, I knew this would be a problem. He tried a few times to get me to do it, and “that dog don’t hunt.” I started to get that “lungs closed off” feeling but tried to ignore it.

Interestingly, instead of just letting me go half-way (which the personal coach had done) , he took me over to one of the steel bars and told me to climb “up and down” the bar with my hands, doing the squat to the floor that way. If my knees hurt, to stop, but to use the vertical to get up and down. He said the most important part was to have my weight in my heels. He tried to get me to lean forward, but every time I would do that, I would come up onto the toe-part of my foot. He said to just keep doing it as best I could, and try to come more forward, because if I let go, I would fall over backwards (obviously). But that the most important part was to keep weighted in my heels.

Then, he had me take a length of PVC pipe, and just start it at my collar bone, and push it up over my head. I know there is a name for this, just don’t remember – so I’m going to call it an overhead press. He tried to get my elbows into a certain position but it made my shoulder hurt. He said no, nothing should hurt, and just to do it how I was. He kept reminding me to go up straight, to duck my head back, then put my head forward as I lifted my arms up and sort of behind my head. I’ve seen people do that in the videos, etc. with a weighted barbell, and that’s always really scared me. It looks like their shoulders should rip off. But i was surprised that it felt fine. (Of course, I’m lifting a PVC pipe. HELLO…)

Then finally was situps. The first round I did it with my hands behind my head, the second crossed on my chest, the third hands on my legs. Sheesh, I can’t even do situps any more! I was too nervous to ask for anything to sit on (there are the hard black rubber mats in there), because of my tailbone curving out instead of “under” – so of course, when I got home, I had a big blood spot on the back of my shorts where my tailbone had rubbed through my skin. I guess tomorrow I have to mention this if I have to do situps. I really HATE to talk about crap like that. I don’t mind accommodations like doing the actual WOD routine or warm-up a certain way because I can’t do the one on the board – but explaining that I need some sort of cushion because I have a freakin’ TAIL is just too much information for a first date (sigh).

Anyway, so I got the Warm-Up done (well, ~my~ warmup), and then it was time to start the WOD. So I figured out from what Anthony was saying that you sort of pick a “spot” where you’re going to have all the stuff that you need to do the WOD. There were a lot of people in there, and they were doing stuff on rings/with barbells. Specifically, their WOD was 8 RFT: 200 m run; 10 PowerClean 50/35 kg, 10 Ring Dip. I think RFT means “Repeats For Time” – I knew that I had to do 8, and when he says “Go” a big clock on the wall went to 00:00, so I imagined that this meant that the “FT” meant “For Time” especially as everyone took off like bats out of Hell. They were nice enough, two of the girls talking about how “slow” their runs were and they were always at the back of the pack, etc. – but they were around the corner of the building before I was past the dogs. (There were 2 boxers tied up right outside.)

My workout was the 200 m run, 10 bringing the 10 pound medicine ball up from the floor to under my chin (is that a clean?), then 10 of the PVC pipe-ups, 8 times.

The first round, I rounded the corner of the building to the back, and had a “closed lung” panic attack. I couldn’t breathe. I slowed down, and my inner gremlin just POUNDED on me about how here I was, so slow that no one was even in sight, what the Hell was I doing, yadda yadda. I walked a bit, around the corner, then ran the final stretch back to the garage doors. I know that I was SUPER slow because Anthony had ducked outside and was looking for me, but didn’t say anything like “Are you all right?” or anything.

And here’s the “friendly uncaring” thing. If someone had said “Are you all right?” at ANY time during the whole episode, I would have quit and never come back. If anyone had tried to “make me feel better” or “patted me on the shoulder” or seemed “concerned.” Everyone was perfectly friendly, but “uncaring” about what was going on with me. And that’s what kept me going. Now granted, someone shouting “suck it up, buttercup” in my face would have sent me running too. It’s a fine balance. I can’t explain it – but in actuality, it was perfect.

I think that this is why I didn’t choose one of the other two Crossfit boxes that are in my county, though I know people at each one and frankly they’re each miles closer to me. (One is up and over the mountain from my house, so a walk if I wanted to – the other is down in town, so a run away. This one is a drive on the highway South.) I don’t WANT to be somewhere where someone “cares” about me. I remember when I started doing Authentic Movement – H asked me if I would like to do a workshop with him, and I said no (we had just been dating a few months then) – because I wanted to experience A.M. myself, and decide if I wanted to accept or reject it. I was too afraid that if I tried it in a workshop and hated the modality, it might seem that I was rejecting ~him~ not Movement. I knew back then, as he was already an advanced ballroom dancer, that though I wanted to do ballroom, I couldn’t just “step into” Gold classes. But with Movement, I had to experience it where I was just a lump of person there, not “someone” to anyone.

And that’s why this Crossfit box was perfect for me. I tried to say that on Facebook, but people got hung up on the “uncaring” part. It’s not “bitchy/uncaring” as one of my friends (who does Crossfit at one of the other boxes) said – it’s actually quite friendly/uncaring. Not sure there is a word for that.

So, for the medicine ball part, geez Louise, I sucked really bad at the beginning. There are a “lot of moving parts” to doing this stuff right. Anthony was trying not to laugh at my attempts, but wow, he was very good. He’d just fix one thing at a time. And he’d let me do 10 of them that included a bunch of faults, but then the next round, he’d fix something else (so I’d have 2 things to think about), the next round he’d fix something else, etc. That worked really well for me. Granted by the end I had 8 things to think about, and I’m not sure I will retain those 8 things, but I did feel like I was doing a lot better than my first try. (That’s how I felt with the “assisted” squats, too – by the end, I felt like I was doing a LOT better.)

The 2nd time that I headed out for the run, folks were already either back from their 2nd runs already or into their 2nd workouts. (I was always running alone.) That time behind the building I had the other type of panic attack I get, the “woe is me” crying panic attack. I came super duper close to just leaving. But I realized that my keys were back in the box. I’m not sure I really would have left, but I had a Moment. But I knew I had to go back, because I couldn’t leave without getting my keys.

Runs 3-8, I basically “breathed myself down” from my panic attack-ness, and ultimately just got to a “F&ck This” mentality. Basically, “just get it done.”

I wound up at (I think) 22:53 – I took a picture of the board (they post everyone’s times – I knew that from the Girls Gone WOD podcast), but it’s blurry. And yes, I was last. However, it wasn’t like I was afraid of, which was that everyone would basically be standing there with their hands crossed over their chests looking at their watches and waiting for the “slow girl” to finish.

Instead (thankfully!, when I got back, people were all just putting their weights away and tidying things up. That’s it. I did some stretching, and chatted with an older guy who was sitting on one of the boxes that you jump up on. He was cooling off, and that box is where I’d put the medicine ball and PVC pipe during the WOD. It was ~almost~ but not quite outside the garage doors, right on the “track” (yeah, quick escape, much?). He was a nice guy, asked how I’d liked it, and I was sort of thinking about it and he laughed and said “Hey, you didn’t get hurt, you finished, right? You coming back?” and I said Yes, I’d be back tomorrow and he said then it’s all good.

The Costa Rica gal had somehow (??) gotten a bloody nose/lip during the Warm-Up, but she did everything still (I think that she had either come off the rings or doing the donkey kicks – which are sort of “Kick ups” to presage kicking into a handstand – I didn’t see it though she definitely had a “fat lip.”

I admit it’s sort of an odd set-up. There isn’t really an “end” per se. There were people there doing other things beside the WOD, too – a couple of quite amazingly 8-pack’d women doing rowing and something on parallel bars, another gal getting personal coaching, etc. So I said Bye to Anthony, who said that he doesn’t work tomorrow. It doesn’t really matter to me – as long as there is someone there to give me direction. I didn’t check in (except to tell him my name, so he could write it on the board) – though he did ask me if I’d filled out the waiver online (which I had). So I suppose that no one really keeps track of anyone . . . and I suppose all these podcasts and postings and such about basically P.R.’s, the people keep their own notes and times. Like I said, I really had no idea when I stepped in there how things worked, and I just sort of went with it.

I did take photos though of the Warm-Up and the WOD, and my time, and then some other shots, so that I would remember what we did. I imagine that perhaps you could bring a notebook and write it all down and keep track of it that way. I wonder what people do – ??

I don’t feel too sore, but I was WAY sweatier than I’d anticipated, so I had to go home and take a shower and change, as I was going to see a client afterwards.

I realized as I was leaving the box that I had to go to the bathroom, but I was too intimidated (not sure that’s the right word, but something like that) to ask where the bathroom was there, so I went to my chiropractor’s office which is right down the street and used the bathroom in his building.

Tomorrow will be another day. I really hope I’m not all that sore. I do have to find out where the bathroom is.

I was really proud of myself getting all the way to the floor and back up in those squats where I was helping myself up and down by “climbing” up and down the vertical stanchion. That really is something I thought I would just never do – I have “mobility issues” that make getting down into that squatting position a non-starter. But that is the one thing I was the most proud of, actually getting down and up. If I can actually, physically, get down and up, then I am ~sure~ that over time, I can do it without holding onto the stanchion. I didn’t really think it was “do-able” and still keeping the weight in my heels. That was cool.

Oh, and I really am going to have to say something about the tailbone thing.

The rest of the day was pretty easy-going – I met with a client over coffee (unfortunately not a meeting I could charge for) and he took a bit longer time than I’d anticipated, so yoga was started by the time I arrived, which was a bummer. I wasn’t completely sure I’d do the class, though I’d brought my stuff in case. Unfortunately, I arrived too late so that decision was made “for” me. So I started work-study early, and now I’m back home.

We’ll see how tomorrow goes, eh?

 

PS: OH, and song that came on as the workout started – Kay Perry ROAR (did I say that already?)

okay, so today the things I am doing “positively” are:

1. I’m going to walk (so funny just typed “drive” – subliminal desire???) to San Anselmo and get a coffee and walk back, and

2. I’m going to a New Moon with Sue today at 4:00 actually here in Marin (she’s being hosted), and put in the whole “intention” there.

HOWEVER, I’m just scared. Why? Because I’m going to start that Crossfit “thang” tomorrow. And when I was counting down to the Vienna Marathon in March (my 4th in a row), I saw a trainer at Kat’s box personally, 3x/week, to get and feel stronger, and he basically told me I was “all f*cked up.”

I tend to agree, of course. I do know that, because all I’ve really basically done is run for the last year or so, I’ve competely eliminated anything particularly “powerful” or any “fast twitch” or probably even “medium twitch” in my muscle vocabulary.

So, what I’m fairly sure that they will to tomorrow on the first day is what I did with him – (1) 500 meter row (or so) (2) 40 squats (3) 30 situps with the soles of your feet together (4) 20 pushups and (5) 10 pullups. (I’m probably wrong with the numbers, but it was something like that.

I did the row okay. In the squats, he put a huge ball under my butt, and I did them (barely). The situps weren’t so bad. I couldn’t do the pushups at all straight – then he piled up a matt under my knees because going down on my knees hurt so bad – and I could do pushups but my elbows were literally like chicken-wing’ed out from my sides. Though he tried to push my elbows “in line” with my body, that was a complete non-starter.

Yeah, then the pullups. We got to THREE of the elastic bands under my foot to “pull me up” to the band e.g. help me out – still could do I want to say – yeah – like one. The thing was that the elastic bands were so “springy” that I had to hold my abs really tight because if I let them go, my foot would basically spring up to my chest. Lord.

I also had absolutely zero grip. I mean, big surprise – I can’t open a jar – but it was immensely depressing.

He started out that month “imagining” that we would be doing all these various things with the barbell, but we NEVER got there, EVER. I’m kinda choked up right now even typing it. (I refuse to believe that this is the reason that I won’t go back to Kat’s WOD, especially as this guy is the coach at the time I could go – 9:30 a.m. – but I have a feeling it’s likely true.)

I just HAVE to believe that I’m not going to be the WORST. See, that’s my big “quit” thing. If I’m the WORST, I will quit. I can be 2nd to worst…but just not worst.

I’ve been watching Crossfit YouTube videos basically since 6:00 this morning until the battery on my tablet died – we’re talking like (sad! true!) six hours. I could not find ONE video showing super unfit people doing Crossfit. I’m not quite sure why not – you can find ANYTHING on YouTube – but that really didn’t help at all.

Last night I was also seriously starting to freak myself out, so of course I went shopping (!) – I ordered like 4 pair of Chuck Taylor’s from Zappo’s and talked with their online customer service for about half hour because I did something wrong . . . because my bff’s over at GIrls Gone WOD said that you need dead flat shoes for non-running work at Crossfit which TOTALLY makes sense. I got one pair non-hightops (red) and 3 hightops – 1 a Hawaiian-shirt type print, 1 a black shoe with the Superman logo on the heel, one acid washed pink. I might not keep any of them (at most I’ll keep one) – but they will be here Tuesday and we’ll see.

Speaking of my bff’s at Girls Gone WOD, they’ve gotta think I’m a total stalker. Hopefully my “oh wow I love you, I … shiny penny!” personality will kick in soon and I”ll be less of a stalker. Also being scared is part of all that nonsense.

I’m not supposed to say I’m “scared” – I just remembered that. Per my Mom, I’m “excited.” OK I’m going to have “excited” runs tomorrow morning likely (TMI?) – but . . . OK I’m going to go. I paid.

EXCITED!

PS: OK I’m back from my walk and in my obsessive fashion, listened to the GGW “Anxiety-cast” about them both having panic attacks FOUR times through. One of the girls has “restricted breathing” panic attacks, the other, crying jags. Oh joy, I have both (I was always an overachiever). So I have done what I PROMISED not to do, and posted on their Facebook page (AGAIN! Oh lord someone really is going to call the stalker police) basically saying “Pray for me at 9:00 pst tomorrow morning.”

Off to the New Moon thing.

OK so today I walked (did not drive…) to Red Dragon (had a work trade), then managed to chat with Kat and sashay back, listening to the Bulletproof Executive podcasts and also the Girls Gone WOD podcasts . . . forgot my cell phone at home but “no big deal” because H isn’t around . . . leisurely pulled up my calendar once I yawned my way back to my desk and SHA-ZAM! discovered I’d completely bailed on my chiropractic appointment (which I’d actually had him move because of the Work Trade) by 2 hours. CRAP!!! I HATE THAT! I had to send a big “mea culpa” email to Jackie . . . argh.

Talked to Kat about the whole TAR-365 thing. Also told her I joined The Cave because of the Groupon – her view was that if I don’t like that box, come and join hers. She definitely is set that hers is the best WOD in the county. (Who knows, she’s probably right!) The thing I ~do~ like about The Cave is the whole Parkour/Gymnastics possibility . . . which is pretty damned funny for the girl who used to have her dad write doctor’s excuses to get me out of ANYTHING gymnastic all the way through grammar-middle-junior high. (I think that staving off panic attacks was high on Ze Parentz List . . . )

Anyway, so I walked instead of drove, and have been “gearing up” to start Crossfit on Monday. WHO SAID THAT. Lord in Heaven. I am also going to post right now that for Day 10 – tomorrow – I am getting up to get to a 6:40 run in Mill Valley and I think it’s 13 miles. I haven’t really “run run” since Vienna Marathon, not REALLY. I think doing Nike then CIM then Disney then Vienna was ’nuff marathons for me – I’ve been super lax about my workouts and it’s time to knuckle down since Nike is in October. Since I cancelled out on the Angel Island/RCP Mile swim because of the torn bicep attachment, I’ve just been one big’ole’sandbagger. I might die tomorrow . . . but at least I’ll die before the rest of the world is up so they won’t laugh at my crawling back home . . .

OK and finally – I admit that today I’ve been having a BLAST doing follow-up things for the gals who do this “Girls Gone WOD” podcast. One of them was a dancer in the Diana Ross/Super Bowl XXX (1996) – I checked their Twitter/Facebook/webpage to see if they had, in fact, as they’d said they would, looked for the clip and posted it – they hadn’t so I did. Then they talked about goal setting, so I posted the link for the lift.do that I discovered the other day through the Bulletproof Executive. And finally, now they’re talking about Haiku so I sent them one about their podcast.

This is probably me gearing up to SUCK ROCKS on Monday – so I’m trying to pile up some karma beforehand, so my “new BFFs” at Girls Gone WOD won’t disown me when they find out that sure, I can run like 30 miles, but it’s at 12 minutes a mile and I can’t even LIFT a kettlebell. True fact.

Yeah, but I have naturally curly hair, dang it. ::fluff::  ::fluff::

I have a Groupon from TWO YEARS ago for this school: Adventure Out. I have had a “follow up on this” (through FollowUpThen.com – my ABSOLUTELY favorite email/task system) for, yeah, two years.

I purchased two Groupons for their “Survival School” – which I thought would be a blast. H and I are discovering that we have a really bad habit of purchasing stuff that looks interesting – then putting it in a drawer until the coupon expires. Argh.

Anyway – so since you’re supposed to at least get the “value you paid” for the Groupon (which for me was $100), instead of 2-for-1, I just contacted the school to see whether I could get 1-for-1 😉

It’s in Marin – very close by. They also have Rock Climbing, Surfing, etc.

I believe that this could be a great, GREAT place to get some potential TAR skills.

I think that I mentioned I went yesterday and signed up at The Cave for the 20 Crossfit Conditioning sessions. I also downloaded some podcasts on Parkour, plus I have been listening more to the Bulletproof Executive Podcasts. The most recent Podcast that I listened to was with Dr. Doug McGuff, M.D. – and it was IMMENSELY INTERESTING – HERE is the link.

I actually listened to the Bulletproof Podcasts all night – it was sort of a mistake, but so it goes – I fell asleep to them playing on my Apple TV on the stereo in the bedroom, and woke up the next morning – yaaaawn! stretchhhh! – to them still playing. I had to laugh – maybe all that stuff is now subliminally knocking around in my brain. (If so, as David Asprey, the moderator, hawks his “Bulletproof Coffee” every single podcast, I’ll have to monitor my Amex charges in the dead of night. LOL. Actually, I DO make his “bulletproof” recipe now for coffee – though I use Weaver’s – and add his Brain Octane MCT Oil and 1 Tbs butter, now with a couple egg yolks – and it does act like a meal and does start my day off quite well, but I digress. Oh wait, I’ll digress some more – Weaver’s is MY HOMETOWN BREW and got voted WORLD’S BEST COFFEE recently, how proud am I – check out the articles about it HERE.)

Anyway – before the iPod died in the middle of the podcast, Dr. McGuff was talking about long distance Ironman/marathon/ultra athletes, and basically how doing this really messes up your body. Not only the way that we “know” it does (hip flexor issues, pounding on the pavement for hours, shoulder strains), but by telling your body that fast twitch muscle fibers really aren’t that important. That they’re just “dead weight” on your body. However, these muscle fibers are the ones that really help with insulin resistance, etc.

I personally know that I have about zero fast twitch fibers. I was thinking about this the other day, after signing up for the Crossfit stuff. It’s something that I want to rectify, as – when I have worked out – I’ve really been doing mainly “endurance-esque” (slow!) workouts for years. I’m also (as Dr. McGuff put it) one who “punches the ticket” with respect to working out – his comment was that it is like going to church or recycling – there isn’t a lot backing up that these 3 things do all that much, but they make you a “better person” so most of us mindlessly do them. Funny.

That is also why I wound up joining the “Parkour offering” Crossfit gym – ok, that and the Groupon (laugh) – because I KNOW that I need to “get this back” – I have zero and I mean ZERO “bounce” or “jump” or “sprint” in my body, and it’s time to recover that.

Now, time to call a law client, then off to the farmer’s market for my veggie box.

Happy New Year, all! May this coming year be FULL of grass-fed butter and organically-produced-ethically-raised honey! 🙂

POSTSCRIPT: Listening to more podcasts – found and downloaded a few more that look interesting. I remember when I was REALLY into podcasts, now probably over three years ago (at least). Dang, I think we’re talking like 5 years ago . . . (thinks . . . ) yup, I think it was more like 2007 or so. I think that I fell out of doing it when I stopped commuting on the ferry, etc. – podcasts are so great for filling in that “in-between” time – and commuting was a big big part of that.

So, I walked again today – this time to the library to return the book for Book Club tonight – still tracking what I eat, etc. on the Jillian Michaels website. I’m glad that I’m doing this blog, and I’m toying with the idea of signing up for lift.do – it’s a website dedicated to “engraining good habits” and I liked what the founder had to say about it on one of the podcasts I listened to on my walk. HERE is a list of “popular habits” on Lift.Do – Similar to Stikk.com (without the $ risk) or MyFitnessPal.com, basically looks like you sign into a group, and report in how you’re doing. The cool thing is that they have a TON of groups already, and you wouldn’t really “know” folks in the group . . . you can sign up for something as mundane as Flossing every day (one of the top 5 groups!) or even “Work on a Secret Project,” etc. In the podcast (which was on the Bulletproof Executive feed, but I just looked there to link it and I can’t find it) the founder of Lift.Do talks about how, by and large, we only have the “bandwidth” to make a certain number of decisions in a day, and when we get to the end of that number, we’re done. He therefore postulated that things like “Floss” making it way up in the list is because people are trying to get that thing from a “decision” into being a “habit.”

He also talked about there being somewhat of a Maslow’s Hierarchy when it comes to the Groups – people originally join and then get into a group that’s a pressing thing they want in their life right at that moment – something they want to turn from a decision into a habit – like exercising or drinking more water (the top 2 groups). Then as people progress, they join groups to better themselves at work (“set priorities for the day” or “inbox zero”), then better their relationships (“tell my spouse I love them daily”) and ultimately to a more expanded world-view (“3 things I’m grateful for,” “pray,” “stop and enjoy life”).

I am just not sure I want to add one more thing I am “reporting into” – since I’ve committed to this blog in my TAR-365 commitment. Perhaps….Perhaps….Perhaps! 🙂

So!

Monday (Day 5) was really mainly a work day. I had some work that had piled up, and I needed to get that taken care of. One thing that I have trouble juggling is putting out the “attraction energy” to get more work (for money) versus whatever I’m interested in at that moment. This is tough, since I’m not an employee – as an employee, you get to go to work, do your best to do your job with the least amount of effort (hey, you know it’s true), while letting your mind wander around as you get your salary. When you’re an independent contractor, unfortunately, the “mind wandering around to something else” seems to make the pipeline dry up. This is a toughie.

Monday I did some research, though, on various Crossfit gyms. There are 3 in our area. The one that my friend Kat belongs to is the least expensive, and she says it’s the best. There is one closer to me, but it’s very pricey – then another fairly far away (definitely a drive) that’s the most expensive of all. Monday I sent out emails to all those gyms, asking about their pricing, etc. Both the closest one (TJ’s) and the farthest one (The Cave) answered back.

Then interestingly, on Tuesday – which again, if you’re using the feng shui calendar thing, was a day to “start things” – The Cave had a Groupon for 20 sessions at their “Conditioning” level (which you need before you really start) at less than 1/2 price, plus Groupon was having a Fall “Sale coupon” so the 20 classes wound up being closer to 7/10ths off. (Yeah yeah, I’m bad with math, so sue me – basically “a bit over half”).

I signed up for the Groupon RIGHT before the 1:00 p.m. “best feng shui hour” – because I didn’t think about it – I mean, literally, like 4 minutes before. That hour is represented by “Bleeding” – which in feng shui parlance means “Injuries.” (um, duh…) – however, it was in an altogether great day otherwise, so I will just have to watch myself is what I figure.

Right AFTER that (when the 1:00 p.m. hour started) I got the reminder I had set for myself to put away some $ towards TAR in a symbolic fashion. So I have a little piggy bank that I got from my Bank years ago, and “symbolically” put $100 bill into it – which will be the start of my savings for all things TAR. What the heck, again, right? I mean – who knows whether the whole feng shui thing “works” but the wealthiest Chinese swear by it, and if you CAN do it, why not, right?

Today is Day 7 – an Unfavorable/Remove day. I have to get H off to his business trip to Switzerland, and plan to go to the Team In Training workout down on the Marina. I pulled a groin muscle while in Kentucky, but it seems to be healed. Yesterday I did a 3.5/3.0 slope 30 minute walk on the treadmill (still trying to keep it slow as I really don’t want to be dealing with a chronic muscle issue), then did 1,000 yards in the pool, followed by 10 minute tread with hands up in the deep water. My plan is to keep adding 250 yards each time I hit the pool, until I’m up more in the 3 mile range or so. I’ve found that swimming at 3:00 p.m. is a great time – no one is really there, you certainly don’t have to circle swim. I wound up splitting my lane for about 1/2 the time but it’s also nice to be out in the sun. I love my pool – it’s salt-water not chlorine, and also outside. Unfortunately as it’s at the JCC, it’ll be closed as Rosh Ha’Shanah starts tonight. (L’Shana Tovah, Robb!)

A little more about me. When I was a kid, I did everything I could – including trying to wheedle my doctor-father into writing me “medical notes”- to get out of gym class. I’m not quite sure why. It’s interesting, as once I got to college, I wound up being drafted out of my first fencing class onto the varsity team (we went to the NCAAs) – and also was on the varsity/travel/competition teams in Shotokan karate and fencing in my Junior Year Abroad. After moving to Washington, D.C., I got my Masters, but definitely fell off the wagon when it comes to working out. (I did continue with Shotokan karate, however, while in school there.)

In D.C., I went to school at night and worked at a publishing house during the day – there, I met my friend Leslie. On New Year’s Eve between 1987 and 1988, The Washington Post published a calendar that went from January 1st through Thanksgiving. It was put out by Remar Sutton, who had just published his book, Body Worry. The idea was that if you followed the plan, by Thanksgiving, you could do an sprint-distance triathlon in the Bahamas. Remar even stated that he would have a dinner for anyone who came.

This plan started basically with “walk 10 minutes, find a pool, and dust off your bike or find someone who will loan you one.” The Bahamas Conchman Triathlon is dead flat – so it’s not like you needed any special equipment. As you can imagine, 1,000s of people wrote to him. This was back in 1987-88 – I was on the Internet because I’d discovered it during my Masters, but basically no one else was, so it involved writing an actual, physical “letter of commitment” to Remar.

He was pretty much shocked at how many letters he got. (“Oops, did I promise all these folks dinner…?”) We started a band of folks who wound up getting together – the “Conch-Outs.” For example, we volunteered at the Baltimore Triathlon together, etc. – and ultimately a few 100 of us actually made it to The Bahamas. I’m still friends (via Facebook) with one guy and his wife whom I met there, and with Leslie too.

HERE are some photos from back then – yes, that’s me in the mullet!

There, I met a gal who was part of the Hash House Harriers – which I wound up joining, then travelling the world with. That was a crazy time! I also did the Chicago Sun-Times Triathlon with her.

Then I moved back to California, started going to law school, and working out once again fell by the wayside. I got super fit for my wedding – because I wanted to fit into my mom’s wedding dress! – but that was years ago. I did the Ironman (as you can see from previous posts here), and all that jazz, I was in the Marines, etc. – but I’ve never really been “strong,” I more have the “slow and steady” endurance thang going for me.

And – hence – Crossfit. So HERE is the link to the Crossfit “box” (gym) that I got the Groupon for. One thing I like about it is that they also do Gymnastics and Parkour.

What’s Parkour? Here you go (click HERE)

Parkour was featured in the James Bond Casino Royale movie (click HERE).

I’m not saying that a 50+ year old broad can do this stuff, but what the heck? Perhaps! How cool would that be??

Now, mind you, when I was in grammar and middle school, we were “Made” to do gymnastics, and I literally could not do it. I’m not sure why. I know I was scared (I was one scared little kid), and perhaps so tall that I just didn’t “get” my body. But I LOVE the idea of this, and I wonder if I were able to do ONE Parkour move, whether it could look cool for our TAR “Introduction to Us” video.

Hope springs eternal, ya’ll!

OK that’s enough for now – got some law stuff to do, get H ready for Switzerland, then will go to the city for the LLS/TNT run this evening.