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my button, originally uploaded by Chris Lukasik.

this button is sewn on straight through my finger(right through the nail!), and is holding my tendon on a rod that runs the length of the finger. wild!

1000m Row
100 squats
100 Pushups
75 Hip Extensions
1000m Row

Holy hell. I worked this like a calm determined beast crawling, dragging my body to survival. One movement at a time, measured and focused and breathing all the while. Down. Up. Breathe. Again.again. again.again. Made it way past half the squats before I broke for a few breaths and pretty far into the situps, too. Not quite unbroken but very very solid and strong. The squats are benefitting from the recent focus, for sure. Hip ext were way hard and very broken up – down to sets of two toward the end….but last row was, I think, the best most focused gut-it-out-solid work I have done since walking into east side nearly 8 months ago. My love for that place, the coaching, and the programming is well-stated, but today was another day when I felt like crossfit saved my life. Doing the work without the drama of my finger, just pushing through calmly and feeling the strength…all is right with the world again.

Now. Tomorrow - the doc needs to free my wrist from this cast. I need pushups and yoga.

surgery report - they weren’t able to reconstruct the knuckle so it’s fused. bummer, but moving on!!

20ish lb weight vest on for all of the below:

?20kilo then more (put on another plate after first round) later sled pull around parking lot

15 Hip Extensions

6 left-handed push presses w/25lb dumbell (I couldn’t do 25lb with my left before!)

200m run

Oh, then  a bunch of sets of situps, some with a dumbell pressed overhead in my left hand. Haaarrd!

3 rounds, wearing vest throughout.  Felt great. Hard, but great. Wasn’t actually sure I could run, but was fine. Maybe only because I was running so slowly due to the weight vest. Still, felt great to be there and sweating. Since I worked out Friday before my surgery so far I haven’t missed a single day of regularly scheduled workouts. Keepin’on, keepin’ on. Thanks for the millionth time to my coaches for creating kickin workouts, driving me to and from surgery, and being my “people”. Love you!

Knuckle go boom, originally uploaded by Chris Lukasik.

Hey everyone – thanks for all of your notes, comments, and well wishes! Current report is that I am scheduled for surgery on Friday to attempt to reconstruct the joint and reattach the tendons. I… Read More’ve had several opinions and none of the docs are terribly optimistic that reattaching the tendons is realistic as there’s not sufficient bone matter left in the joint (all is in the little chunks you can see in this xray) to attach the tendons to. It’s kind of important as it’s the ring finger on my right hand and I *like* to be able to grip things with my dominant hand My surgeon will try – and if it doesn’t work he’ll fuse the joint. Send me all your good mojo on Friday and thanks for being so supportive!!

30 Hip Extensions
3 Down/Back Gym length lunges (#? 30ish per round?)
50 Squats

3 Rounds for time.

Oh my burning…well, you know.

Today’s CrossFit EastSide workout for me:

Championship Fight Gone Bad (FGB) slightly modified

5 Rounds, 1 minute of rest after each round (after Highpulls for me)

1 Minute Box Jumps

1 Minute Push Presses (20Kilo)

1 Minute Row

1 Minute Wall Ball

1 Minute Sumo Deadlift Highpull

Total Score: 385

I was pretty consistent across all rounds, with 20ish on the box jumps, between 16-13 on push presses, 10cal on rower, 20 Wall Balls, and maybe 15 or 16 on the highpulls.  At the very least I remember tripping on one of my box jump sets, having a tough time on some wall ball rounds, and def lost a few on the last round of push presses.

Either way, super hard workout, done while on-fast with a bit of a head cold and I FINISHED.– so I’m happy!

Today’s 8am CF workout -  slightly modified Michael. I did hip extensions in place of back extensions as my back strength isn’t quite back to normal yet.

800M Run

50 Hip Extensions

50 Situps

3 Rounds for time. My time: 29:10 or some such. NOT my best. heck, I did this is 28something back in August. BUT I had the little burner last night and not a lot of sleep last night so all things considered I feel *all right* about it. I did all the situps unbroken so that’s something. Can’t wait to revisit this one when I’m a bit better rested and really blow it out.

Last night’s CFES 5:30 class workout:

400M row

21 Box Jumps

21 Burpees

30 Med Ball Cleans (10@10lb, 20@16lb for me)

30 Pullups (band)

21 Push Press (25lb)

400M row

600M run

Time: 20:10

Overall I feel pretty good about this. I spend a minute or so walking around, getting the right med ball, and was pretty slow on the push presses. Rock star encouragement from Jennifer Oldmann of Redmond Fire, and super nice sprint to the finish with Melody. Thanks Jen & Melody!

Lots to write about this but last weekend I completed the CrossFit Level 1 Trainer certification and had an amazing experience. During the cert I completed a modified “Fran” (classic CF workout) - 21-15-9 reps of Thrusters and pull-ups. Classic for men is 95lb thruster and full pullup, 65lb for women. I did 55lb with jumping pull-ups.

Here I’m at the bottom of a 55lb thruster - being coached by Todd Widman from CrossFit Flathead.

…and at the top of the thruster. As I recall Todd was yelling “You’ve GOT this….ALL DAY” right at this point. I didn’t really believe him at the time, but turned out he was right. I did have it.

and giving my coachMichael Street a great big happy sweaty hug after finishing.

Today’s workout  

20 Double Unders

20 Wall Ball Shots (10lb med ball)

20 Walking Lunges  

4 Rounds for time.  

Time: 18:50  

Good news? Double unders are getting a ton better. Faster - I’m able to bang out a couple in a row - sometimes even 5! But I still have periods during the attempt for 20 wherein I miss about 8 singles all ina row. Improvement, fo’ so’.  Toward the end began to string wall ball shots together which, according to Michael, makes them easier/look less like a beat down. Bad news? 18:50.  With a little pacing I can get this time way down.

Wow – last night’s CrossFit EastSide workout (5:30 class): Annie 50-40-30-20-10 Double unders and situps for time. Woooow. Fastest guys were somewhere in the 9minute range. I was thrilled to finish and do all my double unders though it takes me about 5 jumps/double. Mine look NOTHING like this demo video. My time was something like 22:47.  

This morning: Lifting PRs all over the place :

Backsquat: 60Kilo\132.2lbs (at 56Kilo on Weds. Again, loving the novice programming with workout-to-workout improvement!)

Bench Press: 34Kilo\74.9lbs  

Deadlift: 54Kilo\119lbs Note: According to coach I have previously lost thoracic extension at 43Kilo so this is good improvement. We’re taking this one very slowly due to the happy herniated discs in my recent past.  

Overall I’m getting stronger by the day and that ROCKS.  

Here’s a short video shot by Michael Street, my incredible coach at CrossFit Eastside of me working band-assisted kipping pullups morning. First full speed, then slowed down to analyze form. Note that my push back at the top of the movement starts to decline as I fatigue - but my hip drive increases to compensate. Awesome to be able to vid these and watch them back to really drive performance improvement.

Check me out here doing my first handstand!

Many have asked how the Zone food delivery/diet is going - just take a look at breakfast! Peanut butter stuffed french toast with syrup, chicken sausage, and fresh fruit. Really quite good and also filling! 1100 cals a day overall is pretty light for the workouts I’m doing so BOY OH BOY do I get hungry in between meals. Thankfully the intervals are pretty short!

Crossfit going great even with the calorie restricted diet - maybe better in fact! Today I PRed on Push Jerk - 39Kilos!! 88lbs, well more than half my body weight!

Today’s my first day of having Zone Seattle food delivered to my house. So far so AMAZING! This is my afternoon snack - some kind of pizza pita thingies that are so yummy AND seem like a total treat to me. Nothing I would ever think I am supposed to/allowed to eat and still lose weight. Yep - I’m on a killer track to lose the last little bit (read: Lean out something fierce like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2), but more importantly, really chase some awesome CrossFit performance. Dialing in the diet scientifically with weighed and measured food in exactly the right proportions is the way to do it so I’m going to hire the pros to get me off to the right start. All my food for the day shows up at my door by 6am. MAGIC!

“How’s CrossFit going?” people ask….. Well, remember my first chipper back in march? 14ish minutes to complete? Yesterday we revisited that workout and I completed it TWICE, the first time in 7:14ish and the second in 7:04!!!!! Holy crap. I LOVE CrossFit.

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 06/25/2008
• Time: 08:00:00

Still a long way to go on rowing, but certainly improving. Back is healing nicely and I’ve been back at CrossFit for a few weeks now. Pretty much back to full steam on things that don’t involve high impact or load to the back and feeling like I’m moving ahead now. Working a lot on my rowing form, and took a Pose running clinic this week so I can try to work running back into my routine in some fashion. Overall feeling like CrossFit is the best thing I’ve ever done fitness-wise. NOTHING beats throwing med balls around, dragging fire hoses, and jumping pull-ups!

Workout:

• Type: Other
• Date: 06/05/2008
• Time: 07:00:00
• Total Time: 24:33:00.00

My photos from the weekend CrossFit Seattle Championships. I didn’t compete, but was so excited to be there and support the other CrossFit Eastside athletes!

My father had pretty serious back troubles when I was younger. I don’t remember him ‘throwing it out’ often (perhaps he did and I just don’t remember) but I do remember that it all came to a head sometime around my Jr. year of high school that involved ruptured discs, a hospital stay with 7 days in traction followed by surgery and several weeks of him working out of a home office that consisted of a rug on our living room floor that he would lie face down with papers spread about. I remember that getting in and out of the car was difficult, and that sitting in the car and driving was nearly impossible for a period of time. I remember his back stretches. I remember that it did get better.

Whether hereditary or not I too have had my share of back issues over the years mostly down to being out of shape and/or straining things too hard with yard work, marathon training, or other random stuff. This week what seemed like another in a “no big deal” string of inflammations delivered (via an MRI yesterday) the upsetting news that my back looks like one of an “aerobics instructor” in terms of the number of and the degree to which my discs are herniated. I’ll get more details today but basically it’s nearly all the discs from cervical on down with the worst being L4-5. Those little babies are bulging or whatever they do and are touching the nerve – likely causing lot of my pain. Yesterday was my first in what is meant to be a series of 3 cortisone shots – step number 1 to reducing inflammation to the point where I can move and sleep (would be nice) and then figure out what to do from here.

I can safely say that getting a shot in my spinal cord was the most scary thing I’ve had to experience so far in this life. The staff was wonderful and really did a great job keeping me calm and making me feel better but HOLY CRAP what they call “you’ll feel some pressure” has a whole different level of meaning when it’s pressure on your OH, spinal cord. Super duper mega thanks to colleague Stacia for driving my panicked ass to and from the loooooong appointment.

And a note: Yes, thank you, those who have said “you’ll wreck your body” about one of my crazy fitness exploits (marathon training, CrossFit, etc). I know you’re saying it out of love and you may well be totally and completely right. However, I LOVE doing those things and while they MIGHT have contributed to this back thing they have also made me much healthier in many other ways such as weight, flexibility, and most importantly mentally. There’s every possibility that this would be exactly the same had I never run a mile in my life.

I’ve been in my new place right off the BG trail for about two weeks, yet today was the first day I had time in my schedule to step out my front door and hit the trail for a run. OMG and WOW how excellent. Rolled out of bed at 6, gulped some coffee, fed the cat, walked out my door in my gear at 6:30 with music and a key in my pocket, ran, and walked back into my garage - shucked shoes, stretched in the living room on the way to hopping in the shower and was at the office for a 9am meeting. Feeling so lucky today I can hardly contain myself.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 04/08/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:06:00.00
• Distance: 6.14 miles
• Average Pace: 10:45.16/mile

Today was fun CrossFit day –
Warmup
10,8,6 Cal On Rower
6,8,10 Squats, Jumping Pullups

Then we worked back squats which I’m actually pretty good at and shoulder presses (5 sets of 5 with 3 warmup sets) trying to nail the fundamentals that I’m weakest on - keeping the bar close to my body and moving forward under the weight with the goal of moving me up to an 18K bar, but I couldn’t quite (only just barely) get there. Funny (not in an amusing way) to watch that my left side is still much weaker from the break and damage from last winter so it always collapses first and/or just can’t push the weight like my right arm/shoulder. I’ll nail it next time, for sure, though.

Lastly jumped on the rower to put my baseline 500m row on the board. We’ve done it before but somehow neglected to record it so now I’m on the board at 2:08.6. It wasn’t really my strongest effort but I’ll take it as a baseline as that just means I’ll be able to kill it all the more when we next record it. Clearly I should be able to get it under 2 minutes in no time at all.

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 04/07/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Lovely trail run this morning at Cougar Mt.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 04/05/2008
• Time: 09:00:00
• Total Time: 2:11:00.00
• Distance: 8.49 miles
• Average Pace: 15:25.45/mile

Michael brought the hurt again today by introducing me to “Fight Gone Bad” (official description). Since I’m still a beginner I had a mini version of 2? 3? rounds (I can’t remember) of circuits modified to
1. 10-12 cals rowing
2. 12 Wall Balls with 8lb ball
3. 10ish Sumo Deadlift Highpull
4. 18ish box Jumps (ok, step ups)
5. 35lb (?) Push Press
I think my total score for however many rounds I did was 176, so I’ll take that to start.
This is a crazy cool 5 minute circuit with a minute of rest in between repeated 5x so named “Fight gone bad” as it’s a workout designed to train cage fighters (meaning it’s meant to be MORE intense than the rounds they experience during fights). Some famous cage fighter did the routine for the first time and, when asked how it was, claimed that it was like a “fight gone bad”.
I agree. Was seriously the most intense thing I’ve ever done. Good thing I was headed straight to the sports med doc directly after to get things all adjusted

Oh, and in case you’re curious - the point of this all is to turn my body into what Linda Hamilton looked like in Terminator 2, and the results so far are GREAT. Even my smallest clothes are too big and, combined with a strict zone diet of 11 blocks a day, the changes are happening in the all the right places. Hope I can keep rocking it!!

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 04/04/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Nice ’strap wall’ yoga class today with my favorite “bat pose”.

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 04/04/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:15:00.00

Really strong Pilates class today despite SI joint tightness.

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 04/03/2008
• Time: 18:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Cranked out a quickish 5k on the rower today before Pilates class. Time was roughly 26 minutes but I wasn’t really cranking hard - more like a few minutes of warmup, then one minute hard, one minute recovery for the duration. Rowing seems to be pretty stong for me so I’m working hard on form and will be shooting for a sub-20 minute 5k by using pacing boat workouts and also really working on my pushoff. Currently my pushoff is too arm-driven and flat - apparently the display (on the screen of your power output) is meant to look more like a haystack if you’re correctly stomping/starting with your legs rather than arms.

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 04/03/2008
• Time: 17:15:00
• Total Time: 00:30:00.00

Today was my first attempt at a modified ‘named’ workout - Michael guided me through Nancy.
400M run
15 Overhead squats
X5 for time.
For my first time we cranked it down to 12 squats (35lb bar + 20lbs, I think) and WOW. Super tough, though I got through it in just slightly over 20mins. It was a fantastic start and I’m pleased to have completed it without dumping the bar at any point. Really looking forward to getting more solid on the squats as they were really pretty rough  But still – my first try at a named workout!! Only up from here – and on my way to doing it “as prescribed” and getting on the board!
Busy day today with yoga at 6:30, Crossfit at 8, and a quick lunchtime run. Good dang thing I have a massage tonight.

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 04/02/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 04/01/2008
• Time: 18:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 04/01/2008
• Time: 17:30:00
• Total Time: 00:20:00.00

Tweaked my SI joint again (ergh) after the long trail run this weekend so was a little tight/tender for CrossFit this morning. Michael’s got mad skills, though, so he led me on a whole hour of med ball movement with some super cool new ab drills as well as a ton of walking/twisting throws. Feeling better already and will try to get off to see PT asap – going to try a new place in the hopes of finally working this persistent issue out. Running is definitely the thing that sets it off so it’s key that I get it worked out before the season really kicks off.  

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 03/31/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 03/31/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:15:00.00

I’ve been having so much fun trail running with friends that I agreed to run the Mt. Si relay with them in two weeks. Realized this week that Yikes! I’d better get some runs in so a small group of us agreed to meet up at Cougar on Saturday morning for a longish run (were hoping for 9 or 10) but running for a good portion of it in 4ish inches of snow really slowed us down. The run was absolutely beautiful with heavy snow coating every brach and twig in sight, but wow - was hard running. Oh, and clearly I need to get some waterproofish shoes

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 03/29/2008
• Time: 09:00:00
• Total Time: 2:00:00.00
• Distance: 7 miles
• Average Pace: 17:08.57/mile

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 03/28/2008
• Total Time: 1:15:00.00

My first Chipper! Friday found me getting my first “chipper” workout at CrossFit – with a bunch of movements all setup to be done in sequence without any rest/recovery. The memory is fuzzy and I have no idea what order I did it in but it looked something like this

25 Back Extensions

25 Squats?

400m Row

25 Wall Balls

25 Lunges

25 Jumping Pull ups

25 Jump to Support on the rings

25 box jumps

25 med ball 3x situps (med ball up to one knee cross , down, med ball up to other knee cross, down, throw med ball to trainer when sitting up, repeat x25)

25 dumbbell clean and press

I did it all in 14 or something minutes and it was massively difficult. It’s a great example of what I love about going to CrossFit, though, there’s NO way to be counting the minutes or waiting for the “prescribed time” to elapse when doing that workout like you might while on a treadmill at the gym cause you’re busy just trying to KEEP GOING and not puke on your shoes.

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 03/28/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 03/27/2008
• Time: 18:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

I’ve been wanting to work with kettlebells for a few years, and today I got to start! After doing Tabata squats (baseline = 11)Michael started me off with Kettlebell swings, then tried to move on to the deadlift/snatch sort of thing but my wrists aren’t quite strong enough so we backed it down to a clean and then some sort of flip. Can’t remember what it was called but I have plenty of bruises on my biceps to help remind me to learn to ‘absorb’ the bell as it flips around next time

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 03/26/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 03/26/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:15:00.00

Session #4 at CrossFit this morning. Went in feeling pretty awful physically but fantastic mentally down to a super fun but more active than I planned weekend. I’m not sure if Michael was really merciful as I certainly left feeling like a fully juiced orange half (does that make sense? You know how after you juice an orange half it’s all busted, flat, and floppy? That was me!) after today’s session. Here’s the scoop:

Worked deadlift, clean & jerk from a new approach that Michael hatched up this weekend. Seemed effective as it was checked off the list of ‘things to learn’. Yay!

On to WAY MORE fun, though. Box jumps – which I was surprisingly good at (! For a while, more on that later) cementing in Michael’s opinion that I am a ‘fast twitch’ athlete – capable of quick busts of power – AWESOME!. I learned the form – jumped the first short one easily – moved right on to the second – also fine – and right onto the third box which is about 1/3 my body height coming in just above my knees. Much to my surprise I jumped onto it on the first try. 

Then on to rope climb. Yikes! I’ve NEVER climbed a rope – not even in elementary school gym class. Never been able to use my smallish arms to haul my curvy lady body up until TODAY! These guys are seriously good at breaking things down to a level you can do. I started with a plank pull up the rope from a fully flat position lying on the floor – Ok – fine. Then learned to shorten that by bending at the knee – ok – fine. Then on to ‘locking’ the rope in-between my feet and sort of doing an arial squat to move up the rope – COOL! I got halfway up, then learned to descend without seriously burning my leg with the rope by loosening the rope lock on my feet. This will take more practice but still, man, I climbed halfway up the rope today. Totally rocks.

Last warmup was learning wall ball - just like the photos here at the bottom. Squat, deadlift, explode up and throw ball (6 or 8lb in my case) up many feet to hit target – catch it – repeat. Super cool.

Yep – I said that was the last warmup – now time for the actual workout J

15/9/6 Wall ball, box jumps, 200m run. About halfway through the _first set_ of wall ball I was feeling done (oops) but rocked through the rest and headed for 15 box jumps on the medium height box. I started by just stepping up then remembered I was supposed to be jumping, TRIED to jump and got up on the box in a squat (pretty much supposed to land up there in standing position, not a squat) so kind of toppled over off the back of the box. Michael caught me before I hit mat and I backed off to stepping for the rest of that set – then off to the 200m run, back in for the second set of 9 of everything  - then 6. Managed one jump for the last jump before heading out for the last 200m run and *done*.

What was cool is that this was my first time-based thing so I set my benchmark time on that circuit – 7minutes something. One of the things that was super intimidating to me about CrossFit before was this whole ‘work for time’ bit where they time your circuits and you try to do things as fast as you can, but I found it really didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. Maybe because I was working SO DAMN HARD just to do the moves that there was really no way I could do them *faster* or even really worry about *how fast I was doing*. I mean I did consciously try to keep my pace up a bit on the run and not use it as recovery but with the work being all back to back like that it’s not like you can break out in a sprint after jumping on a box 15times, you know? I really look forward to doing this circuit again in a month or 6 weeks and seeing how much I can improve the time, weight, or height. Meanwhile though, it’s just REALLY cool to be doing exercises that you have no choice but to focus fully on in order to complete them. There’s no ‘clock watching’ happening when you’re throwing a ball up from a squat position to hit a target hanging off the ceiling, you know, you’re just busy trying to get it the heck up there and keep count of the reps!

So even though I went in feeling pretty wrecked, I’m super stoked, and now all I want is a long lazy NAP J  

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 03/17/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Longer than planned hike round Cougar Mountain.

Workout:

• Type: Walk
• Date: 03/16/2008
• Time: 01:30:00
• Total Time: 4:00:00.00

Shortish trail run with some work pals at Cougar Mt.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 03/15/2008
• Time: 09:30:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Man, I’ve got to get some sleep. Trying to learn the multi-part moves of deadlift, clean & jerk (the basis of this, only I was doing it with a medicine ball )   today – Ergh! Good thing Michael, my trainer, is super positive and able to break the movement down into tons of “Cues” ‘cause man-oh-man I SO wasn’t getting it! I was at CrossFit for an hour, and was still trying to get it right at about 50mins in. The only experience that I can recall that comes close is learning to ride a bike, and my mother could tell you that I didn’t learn THAT very quickly either J

With only a few minutes left in our session Michael wanted me to get some metabolic work in so he set me up a quick series of something like 12/9/6. Sounds like so LITTLE when I think about it: 12cals on the rower, 12 deadlift, clean & jerks, then 9cals and lifts, then 6 cals and lifts. Seriously? I’m embarrassed to admit that I was close to crying/puking during the 5 minutes or whatever the circuit took me. It’s difficult to believe how difficult it is to do activities that utilize so many joints, muscle groups, and movements for just a few short minutes.

To the good at the very end Michael gave me a 20lb? (I thought it was a kilo gym but clearly I wasn’t lifting 44lbs so it must not have been 20k) medicine ball to do the deadlift, clean & jerk and I was actually able to do it MUCH better than I had with the lighter weighted balls. Michael says that my ‘explosion’ to perform that movement means I’m more of a ‘fast twitch’ than a ‘slow twitch’ person.  Will be interesting to continue to explore that, for sure.

Also to the good was that since I’m still learning the movements I was spared the “chipper” workout they had set for everyone else today. “Chipper” since it’s a gauntlet of activities all set up in a linear fashion where you started with 40 squats, then 400m on the rower, some rope climbs, some jumping pull-ups and I’m not really sure what else. They call it the chipper because it works just like a tree chipper – takes you in whole and spits you out the other side in tiny little busted up pieces J. My boss here at the squish did it this morning before I got there and he said it totally made him dry heave. ROCK!

Today was my first “two days in a row” CrossFit experience and my body made this pretty clear to me in yoga this morning as I was much less able to hold poses for extended periods of time. Thankfully it was pretty much our usual Friday restorative class so there was a lot of (very good for me) stretching. I am frustrated, though, that it seems like nearly every other activity I engage in (with the exception of swimming) seems to negatively impact my yoga practice. Running makes my hips/SI/Hamstrings sore/weakened and yesterday’s deadlift practice did as well. Maybe/I hope that will decline with time and as I get more fit?

Either way, I think I’ll hit the pool tomorrow, a hike scheduled for Sunday (skipping the BigClimb that the CrossFit folks are doing), and then back to back to back yoga/CrossFit on Monday morning! Lean mean body here I come!!!    

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 03/14/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 03/14/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:15:00.00

A series of mood stability-shattering events last weekend – some bad – some lovely but still “different” from what I’ve been experiencing recently – had me starting the week sick in bed with a cold, enjoying that lovely combination of being dead sick AND completely stressed and wigged out. Despite a day of rest I continued through Tuesday and Wednesday feeling like a piece of cooked spaghetti on a taffy stretcher: constantly wobbly and just about to break at any second. Last night was the fourth in a series of mostly sleepless nights and I found that when I did awaken this morning I was still feeling jittery and hopeless. My morning schedule was all messed up, too, as normally I head straight for the gym, but today was my first day of CrossFit at 8am so even leaving the house later than usual (6:30) I found I had spare time (huh? What does one do with THAT?). I didn’t want to go to the gym and do anything as CrossFit is pretty hard core and I knew I was already going in slightly weakened  – so like all good geeks I came into the office. Checked mail, put out a few work fires, then had the great idea to study my Yoga Sutras book a bit.  Here’s what my study opened to:  (Italics quoted from Inside the Yoga Sutras)

                Disease, dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, sensuality, false perception, failure to reach firm ground, and slipping from the ground gained-these distractions of the mind-stuff are the obstacles on the spiritual journey.  

Yep! OMG. I’m feeling all of those!

Vikshepa, translated as ‘distraction’ means false projection, scattering, dispersing, and shaking (of the mind stuff).

Ok, this is getting creepy – that’s EXACTLY what I’ve been feeling.

…accompaniments to the mental distractions include distress, despair, trembling of the body, and disturbed breathing.

(CHECK CHECK).   

The mind begins to have a hard time focusing…the end result is dullness of mind. Doubt adds fuel to dullness. The mind is bored, and a bored mind will always look for a distraction

(check)

– if it cannot find anything satisfying within the practices, it will look to gratify the senses

(check).

Why does this happen?

” …due to extended periods of physical or emotional stress”

(check)

What to do?

Always keep your eye on your goal Dwell on happiness, looking for it like a miner’s eye seeks gold.

Seek your teacher - ..Wisdom passed from one human being to another is like being kissed by the truth. It is beautiful and powerful…

So what did I do?

I went to CrossFit to learn – told them I wasn’t 100% so we took it a bit easy on the metabolic side –only a few short bursts – then worked on squats and overhead presses with a big focus on using the breath to stabilize the midline to keep the integrity of the movement. Left feeling: Stronger. Lighter. Peaceful. Not jittery and not miserable. Yay!

Lesson: When feeling awful, first seek to study the Sutras. They remind me of the path that I am on, that the journey is not without setbacks and provide guidance on how to move past them. If possible, then also seek teachers, of which I am blessed to have MANY. Take what they have to offer and continue to work on the balance between effort and release.  

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 03/13/2008
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Even though things have been quiet here on clukasik.sweat365 I HAVE been sweating 365! It’s been really awesome to not be training for any one thing in particular but to just _do_ as much as I can as often as I can. Without focusing on one area I find I get a lot of (duh) variety in my workouts and hopefully wind up *doing* a lot more. This week is a good example - M-W-F 6:30am Yoga class, T-Th 6:30PM Pilates class, Tuesday: 60 minute swim, Thursday 60 minute run, Friday: 60 minute Crossfit class. Wowie! Saturday I’ve got a 2 hour yoga session, and several walks (!) and who knows what on Sunday. Last weekend I hiked 13 miles - OH BABY - I’m having fun. 

What’s new with you?  

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 03/07/2008
• Time: 09:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Workout:

• Type: Strength Training
• Date: 02/21/2008
• Time: 18:00:00
• Total Time: 1:00:00.00

I’ve talked to you before, internet, about my challenges  in the areas of ‘letting go’ and/ or relaxing into things and letting them come, being too hard on myself and not being able to quiet my mind to be in the present. Today I’m happy to tell you that I’m rounding the bend and am feeling *quite* a bit different/better. I think it’s down to lots of small things starting with the incredible trip to the desert, yoga practice, studying the Yoga sutras, bringing more quiet opportunities for mindfulness into my life and most importantly just, well, being nicer to myself.

I mention this today in particular because this morning has been particularly lovely. At the end of Yoga this morning our instructor suggested that in the coming out of  Savasana  to find our seats that we “disturb ourselves as little as possible”. I did so and carried on with the ‘as little as possible’ all the way through putting away my gear and into the locker room where I normally take a long hot shower (I love the shower at the gym so much I rarely shower at home – maybe once a week). Once arriving in the locker room this morning, though, I realized that the sensation of showering was going to be more than I wanted to process –the millions of drops of water hitting my skin - all the cold, wet, hot, soap, shampoo, washing, drying - it was just going to interrupt my peace and force my brain and nerves to process it all rather than just remaining temperature neutral and relaxing through my morning. So I chose to wash up a bit in the bathroom then dressed and travelled mindfully to the office.

Clearly I’ll want to bathe at some point J but for now I’m really grooving the peace and quiet in my mind and body.

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 02/06/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:15:00.00

Last week was PURE madness – VP business reviews on two of my 3 businesses and enough other urgent deliverables that I was ‘dreaming’ (and NOT in a good way) about editing web copy at 3am! UGH! By Thursday night it was clear my body was gearing up to really shut down - I slept poorly – had a sore throat, painful sinuses, un-killable massive headache, and when I ‘awoke’ after a terrible night it was clear that I was getting “the cold” that everyone around me has/is/had or is getting. On Saturday I was late for a meeting (totally out of character for me) and I likely made a big mistake getting hopped up on enough cold meds that I could attend a friend’s birthday party on Saturday night ‘cause once I got home early Sunday morning I didn’t leave the house or venture farther than from my bed to the couch and back again until Tuesday morning. Well, Ok, it helped that after I woke up and got dressed for yoga class at 5am (!) on Monday morning I noticed several inches of snow on the ground and immediately decided it was a sign that I was meant to go straight back to bed!

Now it’s Thursday and I’ve made my way mostly through the week feeling quite out of it but also interestingly calm. Yoga class on Weds was, well, surreal – I sort of ‘wormed’ my way through – moving slowly and somewhat delicately and frankly that’s how I’ve been at the office, too. We’re prepping for a big launch, my team is down a few key roles that I’m partially covering for, and things are just as crazy as they should be/always are in those circumstances. The thing about being so sick during it is that nothing is making me particularly frantic and this is GREAT and AWESOME because it’s an area I really want to work on - this not getting frantic. Me? Frantic? Ummmmm, not possible – my body is totally booked just now spending ALL available energy processing bazillions of nasty cold germs and trying just for a second to keep the snot IN my nose. A lesson in doing MORE of what’s important (getting well) and less of what’s not (getting all wound up and stressed about things that will get done just as well if not better if I slow down and take some concentrated time to do them).

So THANK YOU universe for this terrible cold! I’m loving the lesson/opportunity to practice prioritizing wellness yet still getting what really needs to get done accomplished.

AND I’m very sorry to everyone who has been stuck in a contained space with me at any point during the last few days .

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 01/30/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:15:00.00

Hrumph. Second week in a row I missed my Tuesday night tennis clinic. Last week was due to snow and this week, well, being buried at work. Bummer, but it’s all about choices, right? I chose to stay at work rather than go to tennis so that I could get crank through a couple of things, and get home to bed to TRY to get some sleep. I’ve been having terrible sleeping patterns lately with lots of middle the of the night waking - sometimes having nightmares about launch content. silly. shakes head. nightmares about work. Didn’t you just come back from the desert all blissed out, girl? Gotta get that back and more regularly.

Either way made it to 6:30am yoga and was delighted to engage in a ‘wintery’ rooting practice today with lots of rolling about on the floor and ab work. THEN I kicked myself up to a forearm stand thingie against the wall for the FIRST TIME EVER! I really didn’t believe that I could haul my rear upward but today it happened - twice! So wonderful. I got little mat burns on my elbows, though, maybe I need a different kind of mat? Still - yay!

Workout:

• Type: Flexibility
• Date: 01/23/2008
• Time: 06:30:00
• Total Time: 1:15:00.00