Leave it all on the floor.

I wish I could find a video that included more of OPT's speech at the start of Regionals.  He talked a lot about leaving it all on the floor at the competition.  I've been thinking a lot about that this weekend.  I think to be really happy with how I do down in California, I'm going to have to leave it all on the floor.  But it's not going to be just what I do down there that weekend.  It's also what I'm doing here beforehand.

With Regionals, I worked recovery pretty hard.  I prioritized rest, my diet was spot on for a good chunk of it and I'm so happy with how I did.  I did all I could to do as well as I could when I was there and that's all you can ask of yourself.  And it paid off with faster body weight movements, better run times and that helped my team.  For sectionals, I can't say that.  While I busted my ass on the training, looking back at the other aspects of preparation, things weren't anywhere close to ideal.  While it provided valuable information that I can use to better plan for next year, a part of me is still a bit disapointed that I didn't really go all out with nutrition, rest and recovery.  Lately, while I've been doing well with the training, I know I haven't been trying as hard as I can with keeping the nutrition in line.  I mean, it hasn't been bad, but it hasn't been as good as it can be, either.

For the Affiliate Cup, I don't want to second guess what I did to prepare.  I want to know I left it all on the floor.  So it's ON.

Also, did you hear the news about breakfast?  Not so high and mighty now, are you breakfast?

Next up, HSPUs and 95lb snatches for reps...

Got my first muscle up last night.  Could only snag the one.  Will try for two on Friday.  This was after 3x210lb back squats - something I wasn't feeling too confident about given all the cardio madness.  It was a good night in the gym all around. 


Also, 5k in vibrams may be a bit too much of a jump.  My left foot is a cranky biotch today.

Sex-ay!

My inner douchbag is coming out. This morning, I woke up with a soul patch.  It's awesome.  I may have taken a wall ball to the face yesterday and, combined with my newfound ability to bruise like a mofo at the mearest hint of a touch, I now have a purple and red bruise in the middle of my chin.

(Author's soul patch may not quite resemble photo.)

It goes really well with the bruise on my collar bone and legs from the hang power cleans yesterday as well as the gashes on my shin from failed box jumps and the rope burn on the top of my foot.  Kurt says I look like a very fit heroin addict.

Too much fish oil (I need some grass fed meat stat so I can drop my dose down) combined with hard training and general clumsiness...  *sigh*

In other news, I almost got a muscle up last night.  Must work on keeping arms in tight to the body.  Trying again tomorrow.

This has nothing to do with anything CrossFit related...

It's just awesome.  That is all.

Hey, it's Dystonia Awareness Week!

Pretty much everyone who reads my blog knows me so also knows what dystonia is but I thought I'd put something up about Dystonia Awareness Week, anyways. This common neurological disorder negatively impacts something most of us take for granted every day... the ability to move.

National Geographic is airing an episode of Extraordinary Humans that talks about dystonia. Here is a preview.

I am stupidly lucky. I maybe have a few days a month where I am symptomatic. I go from being able to bust my butt in the gym to not being able to do up my bra without help (seriously, there's something about figuring out how to get that little clasp together that gets me every stinking time... so annoying). There are many others with dystonia who are symptomatic every waking moment. Personally, I don't know how they do it. As Dunn said in the preview, dystonia is the most annoying thing EVER. It's like your body turns into a recalcitrant toddler having a temper tantrum. You tell it to do one thing, it does another. Then there is the fatigue and fog and the feeling of being trapped.

Treatment options for dystonia suck. We've got Botox (yep, we're to blame for the development of the drug that has immobilized the faces of half of Hollywood) and a bucketful of antiParkinsons meds that sort of work but not really (don't get me started on side effects - my memory has never come back properly post Artane) and there's always the super fun option of deep brain stimulation (hey, lets drill a hole in your skull!). We're kind of the red headed stepchild of the disorders when it comes to research dollars so a donation to the DMRF (DMRF Canada, DMRF US) would be awesome. That or you could just be understanding the next time you see someone moving in an odd way down the street. One of the hardest things about dystonia is how isolating it is. Part of that is logistics (it isn't so easy to get around) but mostly it's how we're treated when we're out and about while symptomatic. I think if more people knew what dystonia looked like, we'd feel more comfortable being seen that way.

And one of the bestest ways you can recognize Dystonia Awareness Week? The next time you're in the middle of a WOD (for any non CrossFitters, that's what we call a workout) and you want to die or are getting frustrated or you're not happy with your performance or whatever. Remember that it's just cool that you can do this stuff. It's just good, plain FUN!

Sweet merciful crap! CFR made it to the 2010 Games!

Regionals was another awesome experience.  Seeing so many athletes competing at such a high level and giving it their all was really motivating and exciting.  It was a different vibe than sectionals, for sure.  The venues felt a bit more charged up and you could tell the stakes were higher.  I am so proud of how our individual competitors did over the course of the three days.  Each one gave it their all and fought as hard as they could.  The represented the gym and themselves so well.

For us affiliate team peeps, the workload was a lot lighter than in individual competition and I found I was way less nervous.  It was so good knowing that I was out there with three other team members and two more were cheering from the sidelines.  I just had to go hard with light weight in short bursts, which is so different from my comfort zone of longer, heavier and being able to just keep going.  The toughest time for me was WOD 2 and watching the team kick serious ass without me!  And they did kick some serious ass, coming in third with gorgeous, consistent cleans and ring dips. 

(CrossFit Regina’s Affiliate Team... love this pic of Julie's)

So, now that we’ve earned a spot to the 2010 Games with a 5^th place finish for all of Canada (yep, pretty cool!), I’m trying to figure out what I can do over the next 40 or so days to be ready for whatever CFHQ decides to throw at us. 

I’m doing another quick lean out for the next four weeks to see if I can snag a muscle up or HSPU with another 8lbs off my frame.  What I managed to drop between sectionals and regionals made a big difference in the amount of speed I could toss into bodyweight movements.  Burpees suck way less and things like pull ups and ring dips have taken a nice, big jump. Like, a few months ago, I could manage ring dips in a WOD in singles with lots of rest in between.  Here I am post Isabel and 3x400m sprints.  It's not a PR but I'm happy with eight consecutive for shits and giggles while fatigued.