Crossfit | Tall Tara

January 7, 2012

31 Days of Adventure: Day 7 – Heighten your awareness

Today’s adventure asked me to focus on engaging my senses. With a Crossfit workout at 7am, my day started with a host of opportunities to do just that.

I felt the cold air against my bare arms as we warmed up by running in the twenty degree weather.

I smelled donuts (serious torture btw) after we hit the halfway point on our run.

I heard my heart pounding and breath increasing after a few minutes of our workout.

I saw the blood on my leg from yet another rope burn. (I spared you the picture this time. You’re welcome.)

And since balance is considered one of the senses (something new I learned today!), I ended my workout with one of these.

This is the first time I’ve actually stayed up in a handstand (sans wall) long enough to have it documented. Hell yes. And this is post-workout.

Consider that shit heightened yo.

December 14, 2011

Reason #62 I love CrossFit Roots

Working out feels like play.

As it should really. When working out feels like just another chore on your list of things to do, it becomes much easier to talk yourself out of doing it. But who doesn’t want to play?

Last week, the CrossFit workouts were ghosts of our P.E.past. On Tuesday, we did front and back somersaults. Sounds easy enough, right? Not if you’re someone (LIKE ME) who had a remarkably hard time doing back somersaults as a child. My parents have a VHS recording of a tumbling performance when I was about three. I am unable to do a back somersault and I just keep trying and trying, holding up all the other kids behind me in line waiting to make their parents proud by actually doing a back somersault.

Turns out not much has changed in the back somersault department. I found myself still unable to do one and still holding up the line of other people waiting to get on the tumbling mat. But you can bet that doing a back somersault has made it onto my 2012 list of goals. Along with doing a freestanding handstand.

Yes, I’m back in the fourth grade.

On Thursday, I showed up to CrossFit and instead of the usual 10 or 12 people, there were only three others. Turns out we were climbing the rope in class and it seems some people were still traumatized by their rope experiences in junior high. You remember that rope. My memory is of the Presidential Fitness Challenge in the 7th grade where I totally failed in my attempt to climb the rope. Like I didn’t even get off the ground. And of course, this happened in front of my entire co-ed gym class.

I can understand the trauma.

Fortunately, that did not happen this time.

I climbed more than halfway up the rope on my first attempt, learning two very important lessons along the way. Never underestimate your abilities when trying something new. And never wear capris when climbing a rope.

{Thanks to Nicole, my coach, for the photo of me in action and the constant encouragement.}

October 17, 2011

Reason #75 that I love Crossfit Roots.

On a VERY regular basis, I get my ass kicked during a Crossfit workout. I’m totally used to that. But I must admit, I love that the people doing it are amazing.

For example, this morning I deadlifted 100 lbs. Which I thought was awesome.

And then I hear a fellow athlete, Suzanne, call out her deadlift weight.

145 lbs.

Which is even more awesome.

This is Suzanne:

I wouldn't fuck with this one if I were you.

I’ve known Suzanne for almost two years now. We work out together regularly at the buttcrack of dawn and we both share a slightly sarcastic sense of humor. Meaning that if you’re in class with us at 5:30am, one of us will probably be cracking jokes. Hey, you do what you have to in order to survive these workouts.

The other thing I love about Suzanne? She’s 23 years older than me.

But the absolute BEST thing about Suzanne? She holds the world record for being the oldest woman to row across the Atlantic. Not only was she part of a team of rowers going for the trans-Atlantic speed record (they missed it due to cross-current issues), but when she was finished with the journey, she also picked up an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, MRSA.

Holy shit. As if the rowing wasn’t hard enough.

I have crazy respect for athletes like Suzanne because honestly, they are one of the main things that keep me coming back into Crossfit Roots again and again. I can only hope one day to be as accomplished.

(I’m okay without the MRSA though.)

December 7, 2010

Reverb10: Community

December 7 – Community.

Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

I’ve written about CrossFit many times before. There are many things I love about it, but quite honestly, the aspect that I dig the most is the community. The CrossFit shop that I go to, CrossFit Roots, is made up of all sorts of people, brought together by a desire to accomplish small victories every time we show up.

There’s something about going through a tortuous workout together and coming through the other side. Panting, hearing other athletes cheering each other on and giving congratulations on a squat well done. Watching someone lift more than they thought they could or crank out an intense set of pull-ups. It’s inspiring and pushes you to work harder.

In fact, some of our workouts are partner or team-based. So you’re actually depending on others to complete what needs to get done. We support one another and help each other through the challenges, no matter how ugly it gets.

(And let’s not forget that we like to drink together as well. What’s a community without happy hours, social outings and potlucks?)

This feeling…of enduring something physically intense with other people…is quite similar to the feeling one gets being part of a team. When I played my (only) championship season of ultimate frisbee, there was a bond and community that was created from the experience of giving it your all on the field. Knowing that others are suffering alongside you and are hurtling themselves towards the same goal.

That’s what I feel at CrossFit every time I’m there.

And I look forward to more of it in 2011.

But that could just be the endorphins talking.

June 17, 2010

Paleo Fail-eo* 2.0

*I totally stole that line from Jen.

But it does sum up nicely how I felt after this Paleo challenge, the second one I’ve done this year. (To refresh your memory…Paleo means no sugar, no grains and no dairy. Yes to meat, yes to veggies and yes to fruit.)

I felt weak.

I cheated once a week during the five-week challenge.

I didn’t punish myself for cheating and there was definitely no guilt. To put it simply, I just wasn’t very into it. (It’s not you Paleo, it’s me!) Maybe it’s because, as my Paleo partner aptly observed, now that we know we can do it, we question why we’re doing it again.

It’s the money and glory you get with winning.

Not really.

I did accomplish everything I wanted to during this challenge…running a faster Bolder Boulder and getting stronger. (I’m not unassisted pull-up strong. Yet. But I’m getting there.)

I just didn’t enjoy denying myself this time around. Surprise, surprise. Each time I cheated, it was because of a celebration I was taking part in…a wedding reception, a new pizza oven, a successful race…and I wanted to be indulging. As part of the festivity. And as part of life.

I didn’t learn as much this time as the first time I tried Paleo, but there were a few things that I should mention about the past five weeks…

I’m still in love with coconut milk. That hasn’t changed. And I may have actually drank some if it straight out of the can. Ahem. No judgments…when you’re talking Paleo desserts, you’re not talking about much. I enjoyed many, many bowls of berries and coconut milk without ever growing weary of the stuff.
Much more cooking on my part this challenge. A combination of factors made this happen, but I’m glad I was able to take the reins and try some new things in the kitchen. I do know how to cook, I’m just woefully out-of-practice.
Even though he said he wasn’t going to do this challenge with me, my husband is just so darn supportive that he couldn’t NOT do it with me. I’m pretty sure he didn’t eat Paleo during the day (proof being the french fry container I found in our car’s cupholder) but at night, he was still cooking Paleo and taking my dietary needs into consideration. For the record, he never ate any ice cream in front of me. (Well, except for that one fancy dinner out with my parents…but it was his birthday…and I’ve almost totally forgotten about it…)
We were still limited to only 4 drinks a week but potato vodka was on the list of allowed alcoholic beverages this go-around. (Still not exactly sure why since we couldn’t eat potatoes…but I didn’t want to ask too many questions when it came to alcohol. I knew I’d be needing it.) But with the inclusion of potato vodka, I found this little number to be the perfect Paleo cocktail: a bloody mary. The Kitchen makes their own tomato juice and it was easily the best bloody mary I’ve ever had…Paleo or no Paleo.
In related news, brunch is the best meal to enjoy outside of your own kitchen while on Paleo.

So even with my lackluster motivation this challenge, I still ended up achieving some pretty good results.

I lost 5 pounds and 2 inches off my hips. In post-Paleo workouts, I lifted more and performed better than I had pre-Paleo.

And…my partner and I came in fifth place out of all the teams taking part in the challenge. (You can read his recap of Paleo 2.0 here.) Which means we didn’t get any money, but we did make it onto the podium.

While I’ve been slowly easing out of Paleo…a nibble of expensive gouda here, a french fry there…I know that moving forward, there’s no way I can go back to mindless eating. Life’s too short to not pay attention to what you’re putting in your mouth and what effect it has on your body.

Which is just another way of saying yes, you can buy me a beer now.

May 3, 2010

Paleo 2.0

Just when you thought it was safe to come back to my blog…well, it’s not. Mainly because I start another Paleo challenge today.

Why would I ever do such a thing? Oh, you mean besides this?

“Research has strongly associated the modern Western diet with the current epidemic levels of obesity, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and cancer.”

Well, one reason is that after the last Paleo experiment, I saw the results.

And it turns out I really like the mindfulness and challenge that go into adhering to a strict diet.

Of course, I picked a helluva week to start this thing. I know, I know…that almost sounds like a lame excuse. But with Boulder Startup Week taking place this week and a little event called Beer and Blogs that I’m helping to facilitate, I have a schedule packed with events featuring alcohol.

(Too bad I won’t be able to drink a beer. In a microbrewery. With a bunch of strangers. Talking about blogs.)

Reason #3? I’m running the Bolder Boulder in four weeks and would love to carve just a few minutes off my time. Totally doable.

Reason #4? I want to do an unassisted pullup. Or loosely translated, I want to get stronger.

And finally…this Paleo challenge, I’m in it for the metrics. Last time, we just had pictures to document our changes. This time, we’ve weighed in, taken measurements, and done two different benchmark workouts. Can you say science experiment?

(We did take more pictures, but this time, the picture is solely used in the case of a tie.)

In case you have no idea what Paleo is, here’s an easy list of what I can and cannot eat.

Other changes this time around…

no dried fruit. I believe my coach said something to the effect of “That shit’s like candy”.
no canola oil.
butter is allowed. I repeat, butter is allowed. So if I get desperate at some point during the challenge, I reserve the right to eat a spoonful of butter.
this challenge will last five weeks.
tequila and potato vodka have been added to the list of approved alcohol; still only four drinks a week though.
teams of two. I’ve partnered up with another finalist from the last Paleo challenge and between us, there is much potential for shit-talking and ass-kicking.
no spousal support. My husband has decided not to join me on this adventure and knows that there will be repercussions for eating ice cream in front of me. It could get ugly.

Goodbye. For now.

That’s what my challenge looks like starting today, but what does Paleo 2.0 mean for you?

More talk about eating real food, more documenting the struggle and more sharing of recipes this go-around. According to my Lijit stats, someone keeps searching for Paleo stuffed mushrooms. Since that was one of my favorites from the last Paleo challenge, I plan on making it again AND posting the recipe here.

I have one successful Paleo challenge under my belt (top five finalist, right here)–so I know I can do it.

The question this time is can I do it without my husband. And without pissing off my new co-workers. Or killing my partner.

Stay tuned. Things are about to get interesting. At least as interesting as carb-free can get.

April 10, 2010

Baby got back

Not mine...

I remember the first event in my life that made me start to hate my butt. It was Freshman Honors English class and the teacher asked me to diagram a sentence on the blackboard. I walked up there confidently (my diagramming skillz are legendary) and got to work. As I was finishing, I heard a voice come from the back of the room.

“Tara’s got a big ol’ butt…I know I told you I’d be true…but Tara’s got a big ol’ butt…and I’m leaving you.”

Shawn Senter, popular football player, was serenading me with the lyrics to LL Cool J’s song as I stood with my back to the class.

It amazes me that after seventeen years, this event and the feelings it brought up, remain crystal clear in my memory. How is that even possible when I can’t remember where I put my keys?

Despite this high school trauma, I’ve had an amazing revelation since then.

I love my body.

In fact, I said that very phrase out loud to my husband the other morning. I realized that it was, quite literally, the first time in my life that I said it AND meant it.

(After I said it, my husband responded that he, too, loves my body. So cute, that one.)

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It’s a little sad that it took me thirty-four years to fully embrace my junk. But is it all that surprising, really?

Negative body talk surrounds us. From snippets of complaining I overhear to images and posts I see online, women are unhappy with their bodies. Whether it’s the off-hand comment about losing five pounds or the demeaning joke about the pear shape of your body, it seems like this body unhappiness seeps into many conversations I have with my friends.

And it’s not just my friends.

“In one American survey, 81% of ten-year-old girls had already dieted at least once. A recent Swedish study found that 25% of 7 year old girls had dieted to lose weight – they were already suffering from ‘body-image distortion’, estimating themselves to be larger than they really were. Similar studies in Japan have found that 41% of elementary school girls (some as young as 6) thought they were too fat. Even normal-weight and underweight girls want to lose weight.”

I’m tired of it.

My strong and powerful glutes (the gluteus maximus, minimus and medius are the major muscles in your butt) made all of the following possible…

1000 miles backpacking
7 half-marathons
1 marathon
2 triathlons
7 Bolder Boulder 10k races
1 24-hr. mountain bike race
1 100-mile road bike race
5 summits of 14,000+ peaks
skiing black diamond runs

Call it my booty resume.

But besides the impressive list of achievements above, what else has changed my mind and caused me to embrace my body now?

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Two things: my husband is an ass-man and CrossFit. The fact that I hear on a daily basis how much my husband loves my ass (and that he can’t keep his hands off of it) has had an amazing effect on the negative feelings I used to harbor towards my backside. When someone loves a part of me that much, who am I to hate it?

And because of CrossFit, I’m much stronger now than I’ve ever been. The ability to deadlift like a champ, perform 150 squats and box jump with the best of them have made me love my body in a whole new way. My glutes are the basis of an amazing amount of functional strength and I honestly feel like I can do anything, physically, that I put my mind (and my ass) to.

Plus now that women are buying butt enhancers and having surgery to plump up their behinds, who’s singing the praises of my ass now, Shawn?

The average TOTAL cost of butt augmentation with fat injections, (the brazilian butt lift) averages $16,000-$18,000.

Echoing the famous words of Six Mix-a-lot, I too like big butts and I cannot lie. But enough about my booty…how’s yours?

[Photo credits: Joe Shlabotnik via Flickr CC, my friend BJ Gumkowski and PlasticSurgery.com]

March 5, 2010

CrossFit isn’t pretty

You can put some catchy music in the video to make it look appealing…

But what it really comes down to is this…CrossFit isn’t something that you look good doing.

Because it’s hard and you’re pushing yourself and it’s difficult enough to even think about doing 100 box jumps…much less try to look cute while doing these 100 box jumps.

If you want a pretty workout, go to a big gym and check out the cardio equipment. Or stop by one of the bajillion yoga studios in town. However, if you want results AND you don’t care how you look getting them, then you should be doing CrossFit.

The other morning, my coach mentioned that she had some pictures of me from a workout. She also mentioned that they were pretty awful and she didn’t think I would appreciate her posting them on the CrossFit blog. (She’s nice like that. And totally right.)

So while I don’t want them on that blog, I’m more than happy to post awful pictures of myself here. Enjoy a candid capture of me in the midst of a CrossFit workout. You’ve been warned.

And don't tell me that any of you, after doing 100 box jumps, 100 wall balls and 5 400m sprints, would look any better.

Thank you CrossFit and especially to my coach Nicole. It may not be pretty, but it works.

And you can bet that I’m ready to carry my husband over the threshold on our honeymoon.

January 3, 2010

Best of 2009: Challenge

If you haven’t picked up on it yet, most of my challenges seem to revolve around athletic themes. There are the obvious physical and mental obstacles involved, but I’m pretty sure that I’m still trying to make up for lost time. And convince myself I’m an athlete.

In September of 2009, I ran my first trail race in Oregon. 14 miles on uneven dirt with exposed roots and rocks, uphill and down, with the threat of stinging bees along the course. Pretty much the hardest half-marathon I’ve ever run…and it wasn’t the biggest challenge of this year.

Earlier in 2009, I ran a new race, the Fort Collins half-marathon. I wanted to run it so I could say, “Take a bus up the Poudre”, as often as possible at 5:30 in the morning. And it was as fun as I thought it would be. However, around mile eight, my knee started hurting and making it to the finishing line was mentally tough. Still not the biggest challenge of the year.

[I asked my husband about his biggest challenge this year and he answered marriage. Funny. That was the easiest thing I did all year.]

Nope, the hardest thing I did in 2009 was starting CrossFit.

I already blogged about how nervous I was before the first class and made the requisite cult jokes. Now, after almost five weeks in, I can say that it was, and still is, one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I absolutely love it. And it might be a cult.

It wasn’t just the workouts. Although they were tough. Pull-ups, push-ups, dead-lifts, squats and kettle-ball tough. Yes, I cried out for baby Jesus. Yes, I sweat. And yes, I bitched about CrossFit on Twitter.

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And it wasn’t just because these killer workouts took place at 6:45 in the morning. Before I had to go into the office for a full day of work.

It might have been because getting to those workouts required perilous walks or bike rides in the dark, across ice and through snow, at a time in the morning when I’m normally snuggling in bed with the warm hubby.

That was definitely the hardest part.

(Besides the burpees. I hate those things.)

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Despite all my grumbling about being sore, the results of my hard work were crystal clear this past weekend.

I rang in the new year with two days of skiing. The first day was spent remembering what I was doing and getting used to the snow. We got a full day in and I felt pretty confident.

Day two was amazing. Five inches of new powder, lots of tree skiing and three black diamond runs. My goal for the entire upcoming ski season was to feel comfortable on black diamonds and here I was, day two, in knee-deep powder and amongst trees. Shredding it, feeling good and breathing into my quads.

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The fact that I kicked ass my first two days on the slope this year is proof positive that CrossFit has already helped me to become a stronger athlete.

And if that wasn’t enough, waking up today, I wasn’t sore at all. While the husband talked about his sore legs, I simply smiled.

Bring it, CrossFit.

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