15.2 - Pulling my head out of my ass

So far The Open has not been the beast it was last year - know why? I pulled my head out of my ass.

My motto last year seemed to be: show up scared, mentally screw yourself, don't trust the amount of work you've done........it sucked. It wasn't fun. I was nervous the whole week and then choked on the workout. That meant that I did each workout twice. Except 14.5. That one sucked and no one did it twice. NO ONE.

I promise I was ready......

Fast forward 52 weeks. 52 weeks of hard training. Lifting. PRs. Skill work. Three competitions. Fails. Misses. Injury. Time off. I am in a better place. I am stronger mentally and physically. I no longer doubt myself - well, as much.


The Open this time around is fun. I am smiling. I am not freaking out for days. I am not re-doing workouts. That's actually one of my goals. Finish each workout with no regrets. Go into each workout with the "this is it" mindset. Why do I need to re-do anything? Would I love to get to Regionals? Yes. Am I there? Nope.

This one and done commitment is very NorCal (so obvi I'm on board)- they are doing the same thing. Their reasoning is that at Regionals you get one shot. That's it. No do-overs.

Crossfit Miranda - swoon

Team NorCal

15.2 was a repeat of 14.2 from last year. I had done it 3 times - this would make 4. Ugh. Kinda lame, but as a friend pointed out I have done this. No need to be nervous. No need to stress. I got this.

I went into the workout with 1 goal. Do better than last time. That was my sole focus. No rest - I mean, this is a 6 minute MAYBE 9 minute workout for me. Sprint. Go. Do. Move.

I started with quick over head squats and did my chest to bar pull ups quick. I cannot string them together, but found a box that allowed me to have my feet on it and not take my hands off the bar. So I did a C2B pull up, put my feet down and DID NOT take my hands off the bar. I'm not sure how much time it saved me - but mentally it kept me moving. I ended up doing better! Wahoo!!!!! I went from  77 reps to 84 reps. I'll take it! I was 4 reps from making the next round. SO CLOSE!!!! I was super happy. These 84 reps gave me my highest finish yet in The Open on an individual workout. Smiles for days.

 I love to compete. I love to see my mental progress as well as the physical. I have so much fun pushing myself, being with friends, and finding out I can do new things.

Bring on 15.3. I'm ready

Beyond the white board has me in the 80th percentile. I'll take it!

This is the 10am Crossfit Annandale class knocking out 15.2

Heat 3 crushing 15.2. I was in Heat 1. One of these days I will figure out the GoPro. Step 1 is remembering to turn it on!

Cloudy, 73*, and summer coming to an end.....

This is my last week of summer. Super bummed about it - tan is going to fade, less time to play, sun, swim, and be breezy. I do look forward to hanging with my friends at work again though - always a good time. I have this week off of my extra programming from Coach Bijan (info@knighteliteperformance) - just doing mobility and WODs at CFA.

Today is cloudy. Not summer-hot. I did not sleep well last night. Perfect day for some mental toughness/confidence building activities. In college we did an exercise where you write your name on the center of a piece of paper, then you pass it around the circle. Each person writes a word or phrase about you (positive - duh). By the time it gets back to you there are 20+ awesome statements about you. Wonderful, glorious you. Don't worry - still have one of mine to share with you....your welcome.

circa 2004

My college lacrosse coach was the bomb.com. No way I'd be the athlete and person I am today without her. She was tough, caring, and the mom we all needed being away at school. Love that woman!

So Sam and I did this activity this morning. For me it's hard to write positive things about myself. I feel silly, or conceded......I am much better at building up others. That's my passion - making others feel great. BUT - I need to be able to do that for myself too. Right? So here's Sam's positives:

Positives that I wrote about Sam

What Sam wrote about himself - Beard???

Sam is very confident and mentally tough. He had no problem writing about his positives - which is what makes him such a great friend, coach, and husband. Here are mine:

What Sam wrote about me

What I wrote about myself

I cannot lie. I cried when I read what Sam wrote about me. Real tears. I am confident in some ways, but don't always see in me what my friends and husband do. Good thing I'm working on it, huh?!? When writing about myself I thought I would die. I hated writing "smart, funny, friendly" - just felt silly. I did feel better seeing that Sam wrote the same things about me. Baby steps.

Now, the gloomy, cloudy, end of summer day is going to go much better! How can you not smile and have a spring in your step when you have just read a list of positive things about yourself?

Think positive. Break a sweat. Smile big. Love the day!

Mental Toughness - Push Past the Suck

I work a lot on strength, cardio, mobility........something that I lack and need to work on daily is mental toughness. Doing research on this I found that I actually do some mental toughness activities (and didn't even KNOW it!) - but I do just as many things that tear that down. So here I am, researching mental toughness so I can be the most Bad Ass Ann I can be!

I read a few articles, but the one that spoke to me the most was "6 Elements of Mental Toughness". Obvi I'm going to relate it to me, but hopefully you can find helpful info in this too.

1. Flexibility: Now, we aren't talking about breaking out your awesome splits - believe me, they are awesome. Absorb the unexpected, don't get defensive, see the humor in it all, when the unexpected happens be able to find another solution. I suck at this. I am getting WAY better, but this is hard for me. My husband is a pro at being flexible. We took a test and he was labeled a "beach ball" for his ability to bounce around, be cool, and take it all in stride. Me? Clip board. A mother flippin clipboard. Pretty much if it's not written down, planned, or talked about (over analyzed) then I can't adapt. I'm not in the fetal position on the floor, but I'm close. Crossfit has helped this because there are so many unknowns. I don't know the workout until that day, competitions are not released until a few days before, you never know who is going to show up to a class and push you......Flexibility.

2. Responsiveness: The ability to remain engaged, alive, connected to the activity. This I do. I think I do this pretty well - of course I have shut down a time or two. I don't have many temper tantrums, but they happen - usually behind closed doors where there are not witnesses :)  I think I have always been pretty good at this because I'm doing something I love (Crossfit, Lacrosse, Field Hockey, Running, Triathlons) - I care too much to totally check out. And my mom taught me to NEVER quit.

3. Strength: Not He-Man strength, but that ability to dig deep. Push past the pain. Push past the suck. For this I have a few tricks - I have a ways to go with this one. People always say the mind quits before the body.....and it's so true. I am not going to give away all my secrets here - there are two people that know my buzz words for when I need to push past the suck. They also know what I respond to. I need to be "coached". I have spent my whole life on a field or on a team WITH a coach. If my brain hears someone tell me to do "one more", "go faster", "keep pushing" then it's on. I can do that. I can do one more, five more, whatever I need. I am now working on being able to push myself that way - telling myself to do one more.

4. Courage/Ethics: No brainer for me. Do the right thing, don't take short cuts, don't short yourself reps.....This one I just don't understand. I know it happens, I know at times it's a pure accident. The only person you short is yourself - skipping a few reps to beat the person next to you or your old time......it's dumb. It's immature. It's not courage. I get pretty heated about this one. You showed up. Do the work.

5. Resiliency: Being able to bounce back from disappointment, mistakes, or missed opportunities. This one I've got on lock down. I do not quit. Period. One fail, mistake, etc is not going to keep me from my goals and dreams. If you find that one slip up has you in a tail spin, maybe you need to look at what you are doing. Do you REALLY want it? Is it something that you are doing because you want to and you really want to achieve that goal? Nothing is going to stand in the way of my goals.

6. Sportsmanship: I own this one. Years of practice on different teams my whole life. I LOVE to cheer people on, even opponents. It helps me stay focused, I like to make others feel good, and it keeps the positive vibes flowing. I've been asked a million times if I was a cheerleader - NOPE. I can quote most of Bring It On though.

So I'm working on breaking through walls, my flexibility, and my strength and ability to dig deep. Positive self-talk is key too. Hope you get the chance to cheer someone on and DO ONE MORE REP!