"Livin in the Moment" by Jason Mraz

No video for this song yet, but it doesn't really need one.  The message is so simple and poignant.  I would like to think that I do this fairly well, but as of late, I have been hung up on this and that.  I recently took (most of) a week from work, and it was great to sleep, spend time with family, and get a few things done that have been staring at me on my "to do" list for weeks.  My current living situation is that during the week I live with a married couple (met the wife in grad school) and their 6 year old daughter to be closer to work.  They are the ones who introduced me to Crossfit, and to Cornerstone.  So, when I go home to my condo (where my parents also live) on the weekends or when I take off from work, I don't generally go to my normal box (it's 45 minutes away vs 10 minutes).  Anyways, I attempted to complete some at home workouts, which include mostly cardio, as I do not have access to bars at my community gym.  At best, I have a 20 lb kettle bell, but it mostly consists of low maintenance movements (squats, burpees, sit ups, push ups, planks, arm bars/windmills, lunges, Russian twists, jump roping).  I did that only a couple of times, and I did attempt to do some pull ups and knees to chest on the local monkey bars, but it was just a tad low.  I enjoyed working out at home, but I really do thrive when others are around me, either suffering with me or inspiring me to do better.

I managed to make it to Crossfit last Thursday for the 1000am class, and it was taught by the head coach, Jen.  Consisted of:

For time--
1000m row
25 pistols (basically a one legged squat, and you have to do both sides to count as 1 rep)
15 hcpl (hang power cleans)

And then, back squats 3reps x 5 times every 3 minutes.  New 3 rep max.

My row time has improved immensely (500m in 1:41, vs 2:19 a couple months ago, and then 1000m in 4:37).  I like rowing, but it can be high intensity.  The pistols I had to scale by sitting on a bench, because I just go all the way down or not down far enough without it.  I am somewhere between needing the bench and not needing it.  Hopefully next time, I won't need it for the whole time.  The hcpl weren't bad.  I completed the whole thing in 12:10 and I cleaned 85lbs I believe.  I had to throw a couple of back squats, but nice guys helped me out.  It was a really successful class, and I like having all the time in the world to take.  That's what I would do if I were a housewife. :o)

And then the weekend came, and I visited a friend in Bowling Green, OH.  A typical college town with good eats, and way too much junk for Angie!  I was cranky from the massive amounts of cereal, naan, basmati rice, chips and queso, and pizza that I ate.  It was all wonderfully delicious, but I paid for it, literally--emotionally--physically.

But I came back to work this week, ready to Crossfit it everyday and get back in my game.  I took last night off to revel in one more evening of drinking tea and watching Netflix.  And I came back, today.  I made poor dietary choices again, as I had leftover steak for breakfast (which was not the problem), but it was the 3 mini Snickers bars and 2 Halloween cookies I had for the rest of the day (and nothing else).  ALL SUGAR.  I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day, but I think it lead to the results of tonight's workout.  Workout was:

400m run and 9-7-5 muscle ups/snatches (Scales: chest to bar x2 or pull ups x3 and lower weight for snatches).  Snatches are a hard movement for me, and I just recently mastered the power snatch (catching the bar in a partial squat).  The full snatch is catching the bar in a below parallel squat.  All in 15:00.  So, I was expected to do 27 pull ups/9 snatches/21 pull ups/7 snatches/15 pull ups/5 snatches.

Followed by Deadlifts 2 reps x 5 every 3 minutes at 90% max weight.

I only did 55 lbs, but I kept falling forward, or falling on my butt.  I managed to break it up into a power snatch and then basically overhead squat it.  Apparently, that is what a lot of people ended up doing.  And I can barely do banded pull ups; I'm still heavy, and I don't have the upper body strength to get my whole body up there.  I was really frustrated with myself and really annoyed.  I couldn't finish in the 15:00 cap, and I only got 49 reps.  My deadlifts were okay.  175 was the highest I went, so I need to establish a new 1 rep max at some point, since my last recorded was 165 and that was 4 months ago.

I kind of threw the bar during deadlifts, and Megan gave me some tips to improve my squat for snatches.  Squats are my thing, but I have been teetering lately, and I don't know why the hell that is.  It's frustrating.  My frustrations are really very mild, but for someone who takes almost everything in stride, it seems big.  I've never left that place feeling so annoyed and frustrated.  I didn't care for it.  I almost always leave that place feeling like I kicked ass, confident, smiley, and even if I didn't get something, like I was really close to being able to.  Not the case, this evening.  My hope is for a better tomorrow, with less sugar, more good foods, and better performance.

I had a good week off; actually had a job offer and received my full certification for my career.  Even though I grumble, I am happy about where I am, and there is always another chance to improve at Crossfit, right?