Major accomplishment working out this morning. Double unders are a frequent part of our warm up at CrossFit. We usually do sets that total up to 50. This morning double unders were the actual workout. The goal was to do as many as possible in 15 minutes. I did my first 50 in a row. I have never been able to get all 50 in a row before today. In the first minute and a half I had already done over 100 but my pace deteriorated quickly. Not a bad though. In 15 minutes I did 575 double unders. I bet if I paced myself at 20 every 30 seconds I could get over 600. I look forward to the challenge. But I bet we won’t see that workout again for awhile.

Today I want to thank everybody for the overwhelming support. Your words of encouragement have meant a lot to me. I cannot believe January has already passed! I definitely need to kick it up a notch in February with my fitness goals:

Pull-ups (dead hang)
Starting: 2
Current: 3 
Best ever: 8
Goal: 10

Push-ups (military)
Starting: 8
Current: 13
Best ever: 15
Goal: 25

Run 5k (at altitude)*
Starting: 8:50/mile
Current: 8:30/mile
Best ever: 7:46/mile
Goal: 7:30/mile 

January Totals
# of pull-ups: 275 ** 
# of push-ups: 475 ***
# of sit-ups: 830
# of miles run: 18
# of total lbs lifted at CrossFit: 10500

This blog had 1299 visitors in January. Thank you guys!

WEEKLY WEIGH-IN:
Last week: 148
This week: 147
Goal: 137

* I say ‘at altitude’ since I ran 7:36/m by the beach in CA – way less than my time here.
** The goal is dead hang but workouts include assisted, negative, and kipping pull-ups.
*** I did girl push-ups the first two weeks.

The stress from screwing up my deadline at work almost caused a meltdown in the “Eat Right” department yesterday. I could not stop imagining myself on the couch with a bag of Doritos and a handful of Oreos. But I stayed strong and it passed. And because of extenuating circumstances, I was later relieved of guilt for missing the date. Even though I am forgiven, however, I am still starting off the “Excel at Work” goal with a deficit. Being forgiven didn’t decrease the workload. Yesterday and today I started work at 5:00am. Just a small setback though. Today I should be able to finish catching up and cover two additional tasks assigned for early this week. Then I can get going on this goal.

World-renowned two-time Adventure Racing World Champion, Danelle Ballengee had learned to keep going when everything and everyone told her to stop.

But now she couldn’t move…

http://blog.changemyselfchangetheworld.com/?page_id=796

Saturday I played Queen of the Court in an indoor beach volleyball tournament. I finished somewhere in the top half which is not bad after not playing in awhile. My next goal is to finish in the top 8. That might take awhile. Sunday I played women’s doubles followed by coed. That’s 8 hours of volleyball in 2 days. I am wiped out but I have to get a run in today before I let my race goal get too far away from me. I am probably still around 9 minute miles. My hip and knee started feeling better right when we got our new bed so I am hoping I am okay to run now. We’ll see.

WEEKLY WEIGH-IN:
Last week: 152
This week: 150
Start: 157
Goal: 137

Now for the hard part. I removed every piece of clothing from my closet that is too small for me and took inventory. That was rough, I have to admit. It filled up two storage bins! And there it will remain until it all fits again. So for everyone who has very kindly made sure I am not being too hard on myself, thank you, but hopefully this demonstrates that the issue is not a matter of losing weight to be happier. I am about as happy as a person can be already. I have a much more practical problem at the moment. I can’t wear my clothes.

10 swimming suits
10 pairs of board shorts
8 pairs of jeans
7 pairs of capris
7 pairs of exercise shorts
5 pairs of pants
5 pairs of athletic pants
24 undergarments (not shown)

Thank you to my cat Buddy for photobombing the side view of my clothing stacks.

I ran for the first time in months this morning. It was on a treadmill which was really boring. I would so much rather run outside. I barely finished 3.5 miles in 37:40, about 10:45 per mile. That is a long way from the goal of 7:30s. I should have no trouble getting back close to 8:00s if I run consistently. The really tough part will be pushing through to 7:30 per mile at altitude.

WEEKLY WEIGH-IN:
Last week: 157
This week: 152
Start:  157
Goal: 137

Yesterday, I promised to reveal what made me choose the specific diet I have been following since New Year’s Day. The answer is another goal I have set multiple times but never followed through with. I have officially signed up for a before and after photo competition. Last year I registered 3 times and never make it past week 5 of 12. So in the spirit of finishing what I set out to do, I am having another go at it. Finishing the whole 12 weeks without quitting will be the ultimate accomplishment. But I also want to find out what I am capable of when I put a consistent effort into it. The downside, of course, is that if by some miracle I DID win they would post my before pictures on the internet. Maybe I didn’t think this all the way through…

My diet is not outrageous. It isn’t really low-carb, low-fat, or low calories. And much to the probable frustration of my CrossFit trainer it isn’t even particularly high in protein. It is based on a balance of the four in reasonable quantities six days per week. One day a week I can splurge on pizza, mozzarella sticks, or whatever suits me. The only real tragedy is leaving behind the sweets, soda, and alcohol. Total abstinence for the next 12 weeks. So no more Cinnabon for breakfast.

It isn’t required for the diet but I am tracking everything on DailyBurn.com. They made an iPhone app where you can actually use your phone to scan a food’s barcode and it automatically enters it for you. No I am not kidding!

Anyway, there is a reason why I chose the specific diet I am on. I’ll tell you tomorrow.

After 2 months of persistent illness and zero exercise, I was ambushed at CrossFit this morning by the entire SWAT team for the City of Boulder. They had come for a hellish workout called Fight Gone Bad: one min at each of 5 stations, 3 rounds for max repetitions. Words cannot do justice to the suffering. I volunteered to take pictures but alas, I was roped into the mess.  See What is CrossFit? for more info.

Here are a few of my fitness goals:

Pullups (dead hang): 10
     Previous best: 7
     Current: 2

Pushups (military): 25
     Previous best: 15
     Current: 8

Run a 5k race (at altitude): 7:30/mile 
     Previous best: 7:46/mile
     Current: 8:50/mile

DEADLINE: March 31st

Any other suggestions?