In the first 12 weeks I also learned that if I try to do meet every goal at the same time some goals fall by the wayside. Here are goals I have not yet met from Round 1:

1. 10 dead hang pull-ups. See post.
2. Run a 5k in 7:30s. See post.
3. Organize my office. See post.
4. Stain trim and doors in basement. See post.
5. The Cat Room. See post.
6. Destinos episodes and workbook. See post.
7. Finish reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective Living. See post.

As for the ‘Excel At Work’ goal I suppose I will find out during my performance review. Originally I had planned to kick butt on an application team but I was pulled off that assignment on to something else. So I need to re-evaluate this one and set new goals.

I learned a lot In the first 12 weeks. For one thing I learned that it will take me a lot longer that 12 weeks to meet my goals. I did reach some though. Here are the goals I managed to achieve from Round 1:

1. Lost 20 pounds. See post.
2. Completed the entire Body For LIfe Challenge. Finally! See post.
3. 25 military push ups in a row. See post.
4. All the clothes I put aside now fit! See post.
5. The junk drawers in the kitchen? Done! See post.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

6. The disaster of an entry way? Done for now… See post.

BEFORE:

AFTER:
 

7. The basement was ready to watch The Super Bowl. See post.
8. Finished my taxes by the end of February. See post.

Last minute additions:
9. Hike Mount Sanitas every day in the last week. Did that. See post.
10. Make the Flatirons CrossFit Affiliate Cup Team. Did that. See post

Tomorrow I will post the goals I have not yet met.

It only takes a minor slip to start a landslide. The problem with following a diet and exercise plan so vigorously is that when the goal is met you feel “free”. Since I completed the Body For Life Challenge I have not been tracking food or workouts very well and basically I have been slacking off in a major way. I have made a few very feeble attempts to get back on track without success. I think the issue is that I have not set concrete goals for what I want to accomplish next. So today I will think about what I want my next goals to be. This time I will have 6 weeks to accomplish them making the end date on Memorial Day.

I may or may not be playing in the last tournament of the Queen of the Beach Series today. Sports Oasis set up a deal where if you are first on the waiting list you can show up as a backup. If someone bails at the last minute you get to play free. If everyone shows up you get $20 and go home. Now that I am dressed and ready I hope I get to play. Even though I finished top 20 twice I only played in 2 of the 8 tournaments so I did not have enough points to play in the tournament they set up for girls ranked 1-25. Today I would be playing against ranks 26-48 and there are prizes for 1st-4th place. I actually have a shot at winning something.

UPDATE: I played but not too well. I ended up in 7th by points. Ended on a good game where my friend Miki and I were behind the whole time and came back and won though so I was happy to end on a good note.

Now that the challenge is finally over I have much more interesting things to worry about than what I look like in spandex. In the most immediate future I am competing with our Affiliate Cup Team at the Rocky Mountain Regional CrossFit Games April 30th – May 2nd for a chance to go to Nationals in California. Again, there are 38 teams competing to fill only 8 spots so we have a difficult task ahead of us. Difficult but not impossible.

CORRECTION: These workouts I posted this morning are not for us. They are for the Masters (over 50). Our workouts will not be posted for another week or so. I will leave them here anyway though…

Workout 1:
50 Double unders
21 Kettlebell swings (1.5 pood men / 1 pood women)
12 Pull-ups (kipping)

Workout 2:
10 minutes to find your 1 Rep Maximum Thruster

Workout 3:
As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
5 Chest touches bar pull-ups (kipping
10 Push-ups
15 Air Squats

Ok so here is an after photo. It is not one I submitted but you get the idea. 7000 people entered last year so the chances of winning are not very good but at least I gave myself the my best chance I could. Anyway the real victory is that I actually followed through with it. The essay questions and pictures have been mailed so it is out of my hands. I won’t hear a thing until December so… I guess that is that for now.

Below are the results of my fitness goals outside of just generally getting in better shape. I definitely met that overall goal – mostly by playing volleyball incessantly. Again, an after photo will be posted tomorrow. I guess the picture to the left there is kind of a preview. Yeah, that’s me.

Pull-ups (dead hang)
Goal: 10 consecutive
Starting: about 1.5
Today: 8
Note: I was really close but didn’t quite make it all the way to 10. For my next round one of my goals will be to get 12.

Push-ups (military)
Goal: 25
Starting: 5
Today: 26
Note: Got that one! They never seemed to get any easier. Just the capacity increases. The next round will to include a goal about burpees instead of pushups because mine are really slow and very ugly:

Run a 5k
Goal: 7:30 per mile
Starting: In January I ran as fast as I could in the cold at 8:45s.
Today: No idea
Note: This goal fell by the wayside when I realized that for the weight loss goal I was getting better results from the hiking. However for the CrossFit training I will be doing miles of sprints so this goal is going to resurface for sure.

Sit-ups: It was not a goal, per say, but I also did over 6000 sit ups in those first 12 weeks. In the next round I will have a goal to get better at toe to bars. This girl starts with a demonstration of knee to elbows. You can see toes to bars at 1:03. Be sure to watch the freakish guy at 2:00 demonstrating windshield wipers:

If I have learned anything it is that it will take me a lot longer than 12 weeks to meet all my goals. But at least I have conquered a few. Obviously, the first was the weight goal. I have gained back a little which I had planned to do since 130 is a little low for me. I am happier at about 135-137. Just need to put the brakes on now before some real weight starts creeping back.

Starting weight: 157
End weight: 130
Current weight: 135

This week I am finally going to share the results of my 12 week challenge. Gulp… I also have permission to post one of my after pictures. Don’t get too excited. It will NOT be a full body bikini shot. Those are reserved for the judges. It will be a partial in a sports bra and shorts and may be in black and white. And since I find it EXTREMELY embarrassing, for whatever reason, it might only be posted for a single day. That day will be this coming Thursday. I just need a few days to work up the courage. Yikes.

Here is the picture of the CrossFit team. From left to right:

Me – the one standing like my back is broken. I am sooo sore.
Lucinda – the one who killed us on wall balls.
Roseanne – she can do 100 pull ups in under 6 minutes.
Tim – the owner and our trainer.
Steve – a major stud I had not met before Saturday.
Brad – professional kayaker who works out with me and the early crew.
Notice on the board behind us Brad was 1st in every event – by a lot.
 

Despite being completely sick all week and having shingles, I still managed to perform well enough yesterday to take one of the three female spots on Flatirons Crossfit’s Affiliate Cup Team! I am so excited! We had to do three grueling workouts within 2.5 hours. It was brutal.

Workout 1:
As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes of:
6 pullups (kipping allowed)
4 deadlifts @ 180 lbs
150 meter run

Result: I almost made it 8 rounds, tying with Rosanne for the top score.

Workout 2: Ironically named “Karen”
For time: 150 wall balls at an 8 ft target with a 14 lb ball.
It looks like this:

Result: I was 2nd behind Lucinda who smoked all of us. After all those dead lifts it was really hard to get out of the squat.

Workout 3: The one I feared would keep me off the team:
3 overhead squats at the heaviest weight we could get up to.
3 rounds of as many pull ups as we could do in a row.

Result: I was okay with the pull ups but I am TERRIBLE at overhead squat. I mean worthless. My shoulders don’t have that range of motion so I keep avoiding them. But luckily I did well enough in the first two to make up for my 4th place finish in this one and edge by Elizabeth.

The team is made up of 3 girls and 3 guys. At the end of April, we will compete against 38 other teams for only 8 spots in the competition in California in July. We have our work cut out for us!