Why hello there. I will be posting twice today because I was far too tired and lazy to blog yesterday. Yes indeed, too lazy to blog. It happens.
Saturday required me to go out of town, therefore I was not able to make it to the regularly scheduled Saturday class. I told Michael Kelley I would see him Sunday. His response, "it's going to suck alone". Great. He even sent me a nice little text about how much it sucked that afternoon.
Thankfully, when I woke up Sunday morning, I noticed I had been tagged in something on Facebook. Once I look, I find out the lovely Claire Powell will be there with me. Thank goodness! Now I won't have to be completely alone.
Upon arriving at the gym, lots of people are showing up. This is a fun crowd. Coaches Michael Kelley and Paul are both there, along with a slew of other people. Most importantly, Claire shows up.
After all our stretching, our task is to choose a bodyweight exercise and complete two to five reps on the minute for ten minutes. We both choose hand stand push ups. The first two sets, I complete five reps with one ab mat under my head. The last eight, I complete three reps each time. It got harder, but they got completed. At that point, it's time to start the wod. I'm nervous at this point. A few have already told me they had to walk the second 400 meters, and I was unsure of the weight I was going to use.
The wod goes as follows:
2 rounds:
400m med ball run
50 wall ball
24 pull ups
At this point, I've never used a wall ball heavier than twelve pounds. So I grab that. As Claire and I are standing there, Coach Paul comes up and asks us about our weight. I tell him I'm using twelve because that's what I used for Karen. He tells me to get fourteen. I whine a little...and he says, "well don't ask me". Touche Coach Paul, and I grab the fourteen. Claire grabs the twelve as instructed, and we decided to start when the clock hits an even twenty minutes.
A minute later, we are gone, and keeping up with one another at the beginning. We can even chat at this point, tossing the ball back and forth between shoulders as instructed by Michael Kelley. This run sucks. But I know this run is only the beginning.
Wall ball is awful. I don't like it, never have. But I'm determined to finish. Sets of five is all I can muster. The problem was that I was mentally defeated before I even started. That's a huge set back for me. I really have to start with a positive attitude so I can finish. This whole starting with the negative attitude of how hard it's going to be does not help me. The little tutorial Coach Paul gave us is helping me a lot. Wall ball completed, I move to pull ups.
I've got a blue band hanging, but during the wall ball I ask Kristin Kirby to get me a green one, as I feel like I'm going to need it. I go over, and there is a blue and an orange on the side, just in case. I start with blue, get six reps in, and quickly realize that I need the orange as well. During pull ups, Coach Paul comes over to instruct me. Apparently, I'm pausing at the top, only exerting more energy than necessary. So after that round, he instructs me to push back off the bar as soon as I get my chin to it. This is helpful because I didn't even know I was pausing. He yells push, push, push, every time I get to the top. It makes perfect sense.
After pull ups is the other run. I start out at the slowest jog ever. I get to the fifty meter mark, and Claire is on her way back in...we high five...barely able to speak to each other...and keep trucking. I'm walking...the last fifty, Michael Kelley comes out to make sure I haven't died I'm sure, and I jog back in.
Second set of wall ball goes ok. It's about the same as the first, but I'm starting to get dizzy. My spells are kicking in, or I'm just working that hard. Funny, feels like I was just starting to give up. This wod is very mentally challenging for me. I pause more than I'd like, but can't seem to catch my breath. My mind is telling me to stop, which is never good for me. I try to push through, but for some reason my mind is winning over my body today. Defeating it.
Pull ups finish with four sets of six, and I'm done. Total time? 25.15. Ugh.
I go over and sit down on the wall ball against the wall with my water bottle for what feels like five minutes or so. That was tough. There was supposed to be a time cap of twenty minutes...I just wanted to finish.
So Sunday afternoon, I made a decision. Regardless of how hard it feels, I have to keep pushing, have to keep telling myself and my body yes instead of no. Sunday was a game changer for me...and it motivated me to work twice as hard today.
I huge thanks to Coach Paul for the instruction, Coach Mike for the motivation and keeping me centered, and Kristin, Chris, Thomas, and Paul for cheering for us. And a big thank you to Claire, who, even though she left me in the dust, came back to do the wall hip stretch and chat when she was done. :) She's the best! I must add that we both hit PR's today. Claire had never used a wall ball heavier than ten pounds prior to today, and I had never used heavier than twelve. Go us!!!
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