When Crushing Your Goal Is Disappointing

I had my last Pelvic floor physic appointment yesterday and I’m also all done with my regular physio, with only my “homework to work on at home and at the gym. Although rehab from sciatica is far from over, it’s a work in progress and I’m slowly moving forward with it.

I looked at the WOD last night and I set myself some mental goals:

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• do the rowing intervals unbroken.
• attempt the thrusters @ 65#
• Finish sub 30′

It was a whole different ball game when I started to warm-up for it. I had talked with Heather before the WOD and she had suggested to drop down to 55# for the thrusters. In my stubborn set-up mind, I told her I would still try at 65#. YEAH. RIGHT! I warmed up and because I’m still figuring out a safe depth for me to drop to in a squat (not as deep as I CAN go, but still below parallel. Goldilocks I tell you!) I quickly figured out that staying at 55# would be safer and smarter for me.

It was my 1st time back on the erg since my sciatica flare-up and I was very apprehensive. My splits were horrible and I only managed my 4th round unbroken. That’s right! I stopped, sometimes more than once, rowing during the row intervals. Talk about wasting time. I even got into the ugly, bawling cry on my last interval. Breathing through that was fun… Not!

So, although I did manage to finish sub 30′ (my time was 18:49) I still wasn’t super impressed with how I did today. Maybe next time, I need to cut myself more slack. Although I was glad I was done, I wasn’t proud of how I managed to get it done, if that makes any sense. I guess, WODs aren’t always all roses and unicorns and sometimes, they are ugly, even when you get through them!

Anyway, I got through it and I survived so I came back home for a well-needed shower.

“Do Crossfit” they said, “it’ll be fun!” I don’t know if I had fun, but it sure gave me funny hair! 😉

Now, I’m back to being a mommy and looking forward to some knitting when Béa goes for her nap/quiet time!

One Last Time

I got up yesterday morning, rolled over to turn my alarm off and considering that everything was hurting on my little body, I chose to just roll over and “sleep in”. I could barely walk from all the wallballs on Wednesday, let alone pick-up the girls (thanks rope climb practice), so I chose to rest. I did make it in this morning though because it was a special one.

Since our Box is moving to a new, yet undisclosed, location, it was the last time I would WOD with my 0600 crew at the location that has seen me go from couch potato to semi-fit. I have to admit, I was a bit sad when I drove in this morning, reflecting on all the achievements I had accomplished in the past 22 months.

Most of the rubber mats have been taken away

The PR wall has been taken down

Where our logo used to hang

There were only 8 of us for the 0600 class this morning since some of our crew is in Seattle for the Regionals. Coach Brendan was filling in and he led us through this:

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Skill: DUs practice

I was hoping to finally reach into the double-digits for those today and my goal was to get 10 in a row. I was super stoked when I achieved this:

New DUs PR! 16 in a row!

We then paired up into teams of 4 and got ready for the WOD

WOD: Team 8K

Each partner had to row a minimum of 1km, but we decided to all do 2km and split the intervals in 4x500m. I was teamed up with David, Bo and Linda and fate would have it that I would be the last member of my team to go on the erg. That meant I had to bring us to the finish. Eww! I tried my best to keep consistent throughout, but I know I faltered. I can only remember my last round, where I managed to keep it around 2:15, then drifted off around 2:27, only to finish the last 100m at around 2:02, which brought us to a finish time of 31:26 for the entire thing. I was glad it was over. I was a sweaty mess when I was done!

I rushed home to get the girls ready in order to drop Rina off to school. Since Ben had a work thing early today, that meant I was on driving duty as well as groceries, laundry and cooking. It was a whirlwind morning and now, I’m watching the Regionals Team Events I missed this morning, with my feet comfortably up on the couch!

Tonight, I get to dress up and be proud of my man as he receives an award for viaSPORT British Columbia Regional/Provincial Coach of the Year Award! Pretty proud of my man and to see all his hard work pay off! Can’t wait to celebrate him (and have a pretend date-night)!

A Newbie No Longer

Today is a holiday in BC and that meant only 2 classes at Crossfit. We were a large group for the 0930 class, but it was a team WOD and I was pretty pumped about the work to accomplish.

 

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I teamed up with a bunch of strong women with small feet so we wouldn’t fiddle with the erg (Alli, Bridget and Megan) and we got ready to tackle this stuff! I started us off on the thrusters. Man! Do I love working on the bar! Thrusters, especially! It’s a lift that comes easy to me, for some reason. I finished off with a 3RM of 85#. I had never done a 3RM before for the thrusters, but it’s a definite 15# PR from my 5×5 Squat Clean Thrusters. I started off by cleaning them from the floor, but I moved onto the rack at 75#. I felt proud as punch when we were done with these! Bridget killed it with 115#, Alli finished with 85# as well and Megan got 80#

After we were done our 4-mins rest, I started us off on the erg. I was trying to keep track of my calories for each interval, but I gave up after my second round. I know I got 13 and 15 cals for the 1st 2 rounds.

After yet another 4-mins rest, we moved on to the burpees. As much as I used to hate them when I first started Crossfit, they have now become one of my favourite move to do! I challenged myself by making sure I would touch the pull-up bar on every rep and managed 15 of them in my 1-minute. Not bad, considering everybody else on my team did the same, except for Megan who got 16! I felt so good after this WOD. I know I’m not at my peak performance yet, but I think I’m getting there. Tracey and I talked about the WOD when it was all done and she said that: “Someone who gets a 3RM Thrusters of 85# can no longer call themselves a newbie.” I guess I can’t hide behind that excuse anymore!

Coach AJ (who has come back to us recently) even said that I had gotten so much stronger since she had left. It was nice to hear and it made my proud of my hard work!

After I was done beaming, I made my way to the grocery store. I had forgotten to bring a change of clothes and was going around in my short shorts and my tank top. Yeah, let’s just say Crossfit attire outside the Box attracts some pretty marked glares! I passed a guy who gave me a nod and a smile after he stared at my shorts, then my Crossfit shoes. He was wearing a Crossfit shirt as well, so I smiled back! Crossfitters everywhere unite!

I’m so happy that I get the week off and will be able to go to the Box 4 times this week. This truly is my drug! I love Crossfit and I love me some barbell work! Proof is this love gush on Instagram!

Poop Galore

*If you get offended by the word poop or a discussion about poop, you might want to skip reading this one*

Poop. Poop everywhere. Potty training Béatrice and a 5 month-old pup means you clean up a lot of poop and pee. Add to that your job field (NICU RN) and, sometimes, I feel like my days revolve around poop and pee. My patients often pee in their beds, which means having to change linens frequently. Béatrice poops and pees her pants on average once a day, which means hosing her down in the bathtub, rinsing out her clothes and cleaning up the tub. Duke has his good and bad days. Today isn’t a good one. I’ve had to clean 4 different spots on the carpet upstairs. Why can’t he do his business on the hardwood floor downstairs??? Bleh, I’m done with this sh**ty day.

I got up early to go do this:

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I had a chat with Coach Caleb about my progress. If you’ve been reading lately, I’ve been kind of doubting my progress and abilities to do certain things at the Box, mainly TTB and pull-ups. I feel like I should at least be able to do 1 rep of these unassisted, but I can’t so I’ve been feeling a bit defeated lately. After talking to Coach Caleb, he feels I’m doing good considering where I started from, the frequency of my attendance and where I’m at in my fat loss. He says I just need to work on double crunches, ring rows, push-ups and such and the TTB and pull-ups will come along as I develop more strength and, hopefully, lose more fat. That made me feel a little better about the whole thing, but it doesn’t mean I’m just going to sit back and relax, I’m going to try my best to put in the time and effort into these goals, I’ll just have to do it on my own, at the playground when I go with the girls. I can rarely stay after the WOD classes as I have to go straight home and help Ben out with the girls and our morning routine, so I’ll have to make it work somehow. Here are some goals I really want to work on for the next following months:

• unassisted pull-ups
• TTB
• unassisted pistol squats
• double unders
• HSPU Rx (without the use of yoga blocks)

Yeah, that will require a lot of work, but I am also very stubborn and determined, so unless there is poop to deal with, I will be working on these! 😉

Skill: Hang Power Snatch 6×3 E90S

I did those at 45# because I really wanted to concentrate on dropping below the bar more than I’m used to and keeping the bar close to my body. I think I managed ok. I felt like I was dropping lower under the bar and it made the lift a tiny bit easier, so I’d say it’s progress.

WOD: Calorow

I teamed up with Tracey and Linda for this one. They are serious Beasts when it comes to the erg. I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them, but I set a personal goals to keep my average above 900 cals/500m throughout. I started strong with going close to 1100cals/500m, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sustain that for all rounds, so I dialled it back a bit on the 2nd round and managed to remain fairly consistent throughout the WOD. I dipped a few times below my goal of 900 cals, but always managed to pull back a little stronger and aim for my goal. We finished with a total of 294 cals in 18 minutes. I was a sweaty mess after that one and hurried on home to do my mom thing.

I have found this workout on the stayfitmom.com website and I plan on doing it sometime over the weekend.

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I’m not sure if I should attempt it on Friday after my last night shift or on Sunday, post 15.5… Do I try to do it Friday and risk being sore for Saturday, when I plan on doing 15.5? So many questions, so much strategy!

I also found this on Instagram and it made me laugh!

https://instagram.com/p/0qOEXvtDRF/

 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go rescue my puppy who has been invaded!

Let’s see how many children and puppy we can fit in a medium crate!

Poor Duke has been invaded!

 

 

Resting

I did my night shift at work and came home yesterday morning to a more relaxed routine. Rina is still on break from pre-school which meant we didn’t have to rush to get everybody ready and out the door. I helped Ben out with breakfast, showered and came downstairs to boil water for my hot water bottle. Sometimes, I wonder what I’d do without my hot water bottle. I usually shove it at the foot of the bed to keep my feet warm so I can get a few decent hours of sleep. Without it, I’d probably be up many times, having to run to the washroom because of cold feet (yes, cold feet make me pee, go figure). As I was waiting for the kettle to be done, Rina came downstairs and announced she had a surprise for me. I filled up my bottle and went upstairs with her. She had gotten everything ready for me to get into be: turned down the blankets, got my earplugs and eye mask ready on my night stand. She truly is the mothering kind of 4-year old! Lol! Ben and both the girls tucked me in and I slept for 4 hrs before getting up again and continue with our day. I had a bit of a runny nose all night last night, but nothing too crazy

After a more solid 7hrs of sleep, I woke up this morning, made a hearty breakfast and headed into the Box for a fun WOD.

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Skill: Hang Power Snatch 5×3 E90s

Coach Cam was coaching us this morning and he got me to demonstrate the skill for everyone. Talk about pressure to perform! 😉 I warmed up by doing the demo with an empty bar and then with 40# (where I wanted to start. Coach Cam said we could do 1 OHS at the end of every set. I managed to do everything at 60#, a new PR for me! I did my reps like this:

40#-45#-50#-55#-60#

I guess those Oly lifting classes are started to pay up!

WOD: Jackita

I got paired up with Chris and Kirsten for this one and I started up with the strict pull-ups. I did all mine with the blue and purple band and managed to do 12 in the 1st round before moving to the thrusters, where I was consistent through all rounds and managed 8 reps on each rounds. The Erg was probably my demise in this WOD, but 1 min went by fast and then, it was back to the pull-ups. I only managed 6 reps before going back for 8 more thrusters and the Erg again. I was getting ready to gear up for something longer when Coach Cam screamed that we were on to the last round. I felt like I should have been going for another 2 rounds or something. I managed 8 pull-ups, 8 more thrusters and the Erg one last time. We totalled 116 cals on the erg and with the other reps combined, managed a total score of 297. Not too bad!

I honestly think the Skills Plus class are starting to make a difference. I felt good during the thrusters and was really using my hips on the drive up.

I came home, showered and made my food menu for the week as well as the grocery list to go with it. I had a quick lunch and went to get groceries by myself! What a luxury!

The girls napped, I prepped some food for my cooking day tomorrow and Monday and folded some laundry before sitting and knitting on the couch, while bingeing on Gilmore Girls! Ben made a ton of homemade doughnuts (we gave some to our tenant and 2 neighbours, that’s how much he made!) and now the house smells like fried oil and I’m nauseous. I’m not really hungry and I’m not sure if it’s because of the smell or if I’m getting sick, but I’ll stick with soup for dinner tonight and will take it easy for the rest of the evening. I’m drinking lots of water and hoping to drown whatever is putting me under the weather. Keeping my fingers crossed it works!

Can You Lift?

Over the Christmas break, Ben and I went out to buy a new sectional for our living room in order to finally get rid of our futon. As Ben was putting away the mattress of the futon to make room for the new couch to be delivered, I started moving the frame by myself. Just as I was bending down to lift it up on its side, Ben stopped and asked:

Can you lift?

Hahaha! Can I lift?!? Yeah, I can lift this empty maple couch frame all by myself! Not a problem honey! Thanks for making sure though! I know he meant “Are you too sore to lift”, but I was just fine! It made me laugh. I almost replied back:

Yeah bro, I can lift!

The couch is nice and our living room will be a much nicer place to sit and cuddle and watch movies once the buyer of our futon comes to pick it up! Although, I don’t think the girls mind at all!

Feeling right at home on the new sectional!

I was happy to get up early this morning and squeeze in a WOD before all the relatives arrive later this morning!

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WOD: Triphasic

I asked Coach Caleb about scaling this one down in order to get the recommended recovery time, but then, he looked at me with a smirk and said: “It’s only a suggestion!” Alrighty then! I was gearing up for a 30-min workout without any recovery!

We split the 1st part in two heats: 5 of us started with the 2nd WOD while the remaining 4 started with the 1st one. It was chilly and windy (so much so that I kept my hoodie on for the run part) and the stars were shining bright in the dark sky this early in the morning. I quickly fell behind the pack in the running and was not quite about half way when the lovely Tracey double-backed and ran with me. Where we run on the street, there are often homeless people and beggars on the street corner and she didn’t want me to run by myself in the dark early morning, seeing as there was an abandoned shopping cart with stuff in it. She ran alongside me for a bit and once the car traffic picked up, she picked up to her pace and I was trotting along behind. I finished the 800m in just under 5 mins. Not the best, but also not my worst time. I then tackled the 30 pull-ups with the red and blue bands. I probably could have done them with the red and purple, but I was trying to maintain a bit of rest in the WODs. I managed to break the pull-ups into sets of 5, except for my last set which I broke into 3-2. I finished this one in 7:44

I caught my breath quickly and then got ready for the 2nd WOD. I rowed 21 cals, then did 21 HRPU Rx, then rowed 15 cals followed by 15HRPU Rx. As I was completing the HRPU, Coach Caleb told me to keep my feet together during the HRPU in order to maintain a better plank and avoid the snake-ing motion. It felt more efficient as well, so I was glad he gave me that cue! I rowed my 9 cals and did my 9HRPU. I finished in 7:14. Great! I had a bit of time to recover for the last WOD!

I still haven’t mastered my DUs so I asked Coach Caleb if I could sub them with 60 singles for all rounds (instead of scaling back to 30 singles for each rounds) and he said yes. I got myself a 35# KB, but I also brought a 26# one on  my mat, just in case. I surprised myself by doing all 5 rounds with the 35# KB. My 4th round was hard and my 8th-9th-10th reps were all broken ones because I kept dropping the KB at the top of my swing. For my 5th round, I broke the swings in 2×5 and finished the WOD in 6:37 for a total time of 21:35. I was pretty happy with that and although I was really dreading this entire WOD, it was a lot more fun than I anticipated! Now, I’m all showered up and ready to tackle the day! I have a lot on my list: running a few errands and working on our new nanny contract before she starts next week!

RX Baby!

It is now 1130 and I’m ready for nap. I woke up at 0300 because Béatrice was having a bad dream and just as I was about to fall back asleep around 0345, the hubster started snoring… That was it for my night. I tossed and turned in bed, but I never regained the land of the unconscious. The wind was howling outside and the downpour of rain sounded pretty impressive against the window panes, nothing to make me want to get out of bed. I then looked at the WOD. It didn’t help with getting me out of bed.

Temperature was warm for being so early

Wind warning in effect 😦

Legs day! Squats, rowing and running! I got ready and was waiting in the parking lot at 0530. There was no point in me staying home and tiptoeing around to avoid waking everybody up. At least, in the car, I can listen to the radio and catch up on the current events happening in town.

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I managed to do 3×7 K2E during the warmup and they felt somewhat decent with a little kip. Could it be that I’ll finally be able to do a T2B sometime this year?!?

Skill: Back squat 5×5 E90S

I paired up with Jackie and started my way up from 80#. Reps were as follows:

80#-85#-90#-95#-100#

I thought about going a bit lighter to save my legs for the WOD, but then, I just couldn’t!

WOD: Aerobix

I partnered up with Chris and it turned out to be a really good partnership. We pretty much didn’t have any rest time as we were of equal strength (my running was pretty much to his rowing speed and vice versa). We decided to go RX and although we were the last team to finish, we managed to do so just under the 30 mins mark. We finished in 29:49. I was so proud of myself for running non-stop all the intervals. The hardest one was definitely the 600m run and the 750m row. I was struggling to keep my pace below 2:30/500m on the Erg. Running in the rain and wind was fun (?) and it was nice and refreshing. The downside was my feet got wet in no time and my socks were drenched, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to give it my best and not disappoint my partner!

I rushed back home to have a quick shower, breakfast and coffee (priorities!) and hauled the girls to Rina’s preschool. They were having an outing at the Empress Hotel to go see the Christmas trees. Every year, there is a Christmas tree exhibit and you can vote for your favourite and give a donation. The donations go towards the BC Children’s Hospital. It was fun, but Béatrice got tired quickly which meant I had to carry her for most of the 2hrs we were there. I’m pooped!

Goofball in front of the giant Tree in the lobby of the Empress Hotel

Rina’s hair is soaked!

I hope the girls nap this afternoon so I’ll be able to do the same on the couch!

We’re Doing Good!

It was hard waking up this morning, but I was happy to be up at 0500 to go see “my 0600 crew” at the box!

Today felt like the Skill portion was a WOD in itself and then we had to do Felix. Double WOD this morning means I will probably be grunting at work all night every time I get up from my chair! 🙂

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For the Skill I did my power cleans with 55#, but I think I could have gone 60# for all 5 rounds. I also used the red and blue bands for my strict pull-ups. I really need to work on these. It always feels like I’m somehow kipping, even when I do strict pull-ups. I should ask my Coach to watch me next time.

Once we were done with the WOD Skill, it was time for the WOD. I had done Felix back in August and it was my 1st Rx WOD back then. I had finished in 24:00. I was paired up with Bo today and I think I can credit him for our better time today: he’s super tall and such a strong rower. His technique is very good! That didn’t mean I slacked off though! I chose to go second (Coach Caleb had mentioned that the second partner would have a bigger challenge as there would be less rest time after the 1000m. I challenged myself and opted to go second! We finished last, but I think we were less than 2 minutes after everyone else at 21:44. I was very happy with that. My strategy was to give 10 strong pulls every 500m (for the 1000m), every 250m for the rest of the intervals. Not sure if it was a good one as I felt gassed on the 500m, but I never stopped and we finished close to everyone else. You know it’s been a good one when even your throat is sore from such heavy breathing and groaning during the WOD! 🙂

In other news, I just wanted to get back to a post I wrote back in January. There were some hardship in our relationship at that time and I’m glad to announce we have worked through it. It always makes me laugh when I would talk to some of my friends about it and the first question they would ask was: “Are you going to get a divorce?” Divorce is not in my vocabulary, even less an option. I am a firm believer that a marriage/relationship goes through ups and downs through the years. You marriage will be successful if you are willing to pull up your sleeves and work at maintaining the love and trust it deserves. We have had long talks about our feelings, making sure we were heard, even though we sometimes didn’t share the other partner’s opinions, we would still listen. Most of the time, just feeling like you’re being heard makes the world of a difference, even though it doesn’t change the immediate situation. I am lucky to have such a supportive husband who understands the importance for me to have my own hobbies (knitting and Crossfit) and helps out to make sure I get to do both once in a while. I’ll just have to also remember that he needs time for himself too when golfing season comes around! 😉

We are in such a good place right now, I’m really glad we are over the hump and we will remain the strong couple that we’ve always been since the beginning, no matter what life throws our way.

I Met Jackie And Left With Wobbly Knees!

Today is Family Day in BC and it’s a statutory Holiday. I have lots of food to prepare for the week and had barely any groceries left so I went to the Box for a good WOD and rushed to the grocery store on my way back.

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For the skill, I warmed up with 2×10 at 26# and then I did my 4×10 with 35#. It was my 1st time swinging the 35# KB and although the last set was a little harder, it wasn’t too bad!

I have to admit, I was excited about meeting Jackie! We split up the group in 2 heaps and I really wanted to be in the 1st heap. I like to get things done and over it and not watch others do it and psych myself out of it. I knew she was gonna be tough, but mentally, I was prepared for it. It makes such a world of difference when you’re on your “A-Game” mentally! I finished the FG+ with the following modifications and a time of 13:10:

• 1000m row
• 50 thrusters at 33#
• 30 pull-ups with the red and blue bands.

I thought the row would kill me going into this, but I gave a good 10 strong pulls at the beginning and then set my pace up for the rest of it. It wasn’t near as bad as I thought it would be! The thrusters on the other hand, I had to break them up in sets of 5, drop the bar down to my thighs, pick it up again for 5 more and then drop the bar to the floor. I was the last one to get out of the thrusters, but I didn’t care! There was absolutely no negative talk going on in my head for once and it felt awesome! Actually, there was no talk going on at all and I just keep chipping away at the reps, just kept moving. I also broke the pull-ups into sets of 5 and then, on my last 10 reps, they were done in sets of 3-2-3-2. I was kipping them and it felt tiring, but nice to be able to string 5 in a row for almost all my reps!

I caught my breath briefly and sat down to watch the 2nd heap go at it. There was a woman I had never met before (Ella) and she was so strong! I was in awe! She used the men’s bar (45#) and even though she used purple bands for her pull-ups, she was so steady and strong doing them! She did amazing! That’s what I like about Crossfit, not only do you celebrate your OWN successes, but the successes of others working hard with you!

I was in a crappy mood all day yesterday. Our new work rotations at work barely give us time off and to top it all off, we have mandatory education to be done on our days off as well. I just feel like I have no time to myself lately and it’s taking its toll on me. Going to the Box this morning took care of my grumpiness and I cranked up the radio in the car on my way home and belted out to the music. Nothing better than a lot of sweat and singing at the top of your lungs to put you in a good mood! 🙂

Small, But Noticeable Gains

Another hard wake-up call after a night of cuddling Béatrice for 2hrs. It all started at 0115 when Rina woke up with a tummy ache. Nothing a quick trip to the washroom and a few toots could cure! 😉 I thought I was golden to go back to bed, but Béatrice had other plans. She was wide awake and ready to go. I tried to rock her in the chair in the girls’ room, but she wouldn’t settle. We moved to the living room, where I cuddle her, rubbed her back and massaged her back and neck until I felt her relax in my arms. Finally, I went back to bed around 0300 and slept until 0500 when Rina got up. I dragged her back to bed with us and fell back asleep until my alarm woke me up at 0600. I was exhausted, but I knew I had to get up: Crossfit awaited! 🙂

I recently read a blog post about Crossfit and how the key was just to “keep moving” (I wanted to link back to it, but cannot find the post for the life of me), and even though I was already tired, I entered the box with this mentality. I knew it would be hard, but I would keep moving.

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It just so happened that there were 3 of us that showed up for the 0700 class this morning so we each went at it together and rested together.

Warming up with the wall walks, I wasn’t thrilled about them going in, but I soon realized they were a lot easier than I remembered them to be. I got fairly close to the wall and my arms felt strong. Even though my upper body is my weakest, I guess I am still making progress and I was thrilled to find that out! I was also able to string the 10 knee raise once I moved away from the taped-up pull-up bar. That tape just destroyed my (already cracked and bleeding) hands. It has been a little colder here and being back to work and having to wash my hands about 100x/shift  with anti-bacterial soap has damaged my hands. The tape on the bar just killed them this morning!

I did the KB Bottoms Up “Curl and Press” with a 13# KB. The curling part was extremely wobbly with my left arm and even though it was easy on the right, the left was a challenge.

For the WOD, I was paired up with Kim and Brett (I knew neither of them) and we just plucked at it. I did the FG with the red and blue bands for my pull-ups and full-on push-ups and we finished with a total score of 432. My contribution was 126 (40 cals for the row, 69 reps for Cindy and 17 runs) which turned out to be 29%. Not quite up to the 33% I was aiming for, but not too far off either. I managed to string out 4 pull-ups in a row with those bands on every reps and I was pretty happy with that. Once I’ll be able to do 6 in a row, I’ll change the bands again! Small, but noticeable gains!

During the WOD, I just kept telling myself “Just keep moving, you can be slow as heck, but keep moving” and I did for the most part. A few of the runs were started with one or two walking steps, but I always picked up the pace afterwards and I’m pretty happy with that. Same with the burpees, a few of them were done “grandma”-style, but I picked it up and never stopped. It gave me great results and it should be my mantra from now on. I have realized that dropping from 3 days/week to 2 days/week has made me lose some of my endurance, and I need to work on my cardio more if I want to perform better, but I haven’t lost my drive and I will keep going no matter what.

In other news, Rina has started her new Preschool (fully French) this week and when I picked her up today, the teacher told me it was as if she had always been part of the group. She is integrating herself well within the group, and I was relieved to hear that. She and a volunteer also mentioned that she was extremely independent (nothing new to my ears) and she loves to play with water in the sink (again, nothing new)! Here’s hoping to soon hear her speak a little more French to me! 🙂